Party of the Plane
by TheyAlwaysUseADagger
Summary: Teague's parents are gone for a little while, and so the prince has decided to host a party at the castle. When he invites Mina - and basically threatens her in order to get her to come - along with some others, there's bound to be some interesting things that occur. What will happen at this royal party? Takes place after Reign. Rated T just in case. Many ships will be involved!
1. Chapter 1 - There's No Saying No

**Chapter One - There's No Saying No**

 **Hey guys! It's me, Dagger, with yet another story for you guys. This is the story I've chosen to start now that I finished Little Black Star. I know I also said I would be starting the sequel to I Won't Say I'm In Love - Unfairest - as well, and that is in the works. However, as I need my kindle in order to write it, I have decided I will get this story up instead.**

 **Now, if any of you guys have read Truth or Dare : Grimm Edition, you might be thinking "So are you just repeating that story, Dagger?" To answer that, no, I am not. I am going to be trying very hard not to make it like that one - as you will hopefully see even in the first chapter - even though, like Truth or Dare, it takes place after Reign. I have many different ideas planned for what will hopefully be in this story, and while I'm not sure exactly where the end will be taking me, I intend to have this be much happier than my other stories. It'll also hopefully have a lot of other cute scenes with many different ships.**

 **One warning though. This story will have some of my ocs from other stories in it. You do _not_ need to have read those stories in order to read this one, however the way they act will make more sense if you read them. I will try and put something at the beginning of a chapter if one of my ocs will be appearing (if they haven't appeared in the story already) and what story they came from, in case you _haven't_ read it before and would like to. Along with that, there might be one or two things I change from what happened in the books, but there shouldn't be much and it shouldn't be anything big. ^-^  
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 **I'm really hoping that you guys will like this story! I'm _super_ excited to be writing this one because I think it has a lot of potential. Plus, I think everyone might need a happier story from Dagger after some of the stuff I've written. This story is rated T more as a precaution or anything, as most of my stories are rated T for violence. I highly doubt it'll meet the rating, but better safe than sorry. **

**So, without further ado (and without further rambling on my part), here's the first chapter of Party of the Plane!**

* * *

 _Mina's Point of View_

* * *

I sit at my kitchen table, tapping my fingers off of it as I stare at the clock on the wall. I've still got a few hours left till my mom and brother get home, and I'm bored out of my mind. I considered calling my friends to see if anyone wanted to hang out, but I have a feeling they'll only want to talk about the fire. I just can't do that. I can't deal with talking about what happened to the Godmothers because of me. How do you explain to someone the guilt of having so many people - some you hadn't even known and others that you cherished - die because of you to someone? Unless you have experienced that, there's no way to understand someone else suffering through that.

"Uh, Mina?" Nix's voice pulls me out of my haze, and I pull myself away from staring at the wall to look at the nixie, who stands in the kitchen door way.

Constance wanted him to come with the rest of the surviving Godmothers, but he refused. Instead, he chose to move into my house, so long as we'd have him. My mother wasn't going to say no, seeing as he was completely willing to help and she hoped he'd help me cope. I don't know if it's helping or not; he still looks completely okay, if not slightly worried for me, whereas I definitely look like I'm hurting and being eaten away at on the inside. At least, I'm assuming I do. I've been avoiding mirrors after Teague took mine.

So, Nix is basically a foreign exchange student staying with us to everyone else. I don't think anyone realizes he hadn't been staying with us before at school.

I take a deep breathe before I respond. "Yes?"

"I know you don't really want to talk," It seems to me like he's been dying to talk all day, and I feel a little bad as he holds the letter out, "but this was sitting outside the front door. I almost missed it. It's addressed to you and me, and I thought maybe you would want to read it. It doesn't say who it's from."

"Alright, I'll open it." I hesitate as I take the letter, and then add, "And it's not that I don't want to talk, Nix. I actually really _want_ to talk. I just don't want to talk about what happened at the ball. Any of it. I want to pretend none of it happened."

"Brody isn't going to like that." Nix points out, and I don't tell him that I already have thought of that. I'm sure he knows I have. It's more of a reminder than anything else. "He feels that you guys are an item."

I shake my head in response. "I need to work out what my feelings are for Brody before I step into any sort of relationship with him again. The way I just jumped into it? That was wrong and too fast. I want to take it slower."

Nix nods his head, seeming satisfied. "I'm totally with you on that. You know I'll be with you no matter what."

There's a brief lull before I say, "So should I read this letter out loud?"

"Sure. Why not? Makes more sense than having us each read it individually." Nix offers me a silly grin, walking around me and sitting in the chair next to mine. "Let's see who decided to write to us. Maybe it's fan mail."

That gets a genuine laugh out of me, and he seems pleased. I have to admit, having Nix around does make things a bit better. I tear the envelope, glancing briefly at the writing as I do. I've seen it somewhere, I just can't place my finger on it. Shrugging that off, I pull the letter out, unfolding it and beginning to read what is written there.

 _To my favorite Grimm and your nixie friend,_

 _My parents are going away on a diplomatic mission to who knows where. They're going to be gone for awhile, and it's way too quiet around here. To put it simply, I am_ bored _. So, I have decided that I am going to be hosting a party for a bit at the castle. It'll last a few days minimum, and we can do some human stuff I guess along with some Fae stuff._

 _Think of it this way. It's a temporary cease-fire. A short truce. No curses or quests or killing or anything of that sort. We all have fun and enjoy ourselves, and then once it's over things will go back to how it was. Please note that this isn't a request either that you can accept or deny. It's an order. Failure to agree will result in a quest being sent your way. I have some very interesting ones in mind that you might enjoy, Mina. And I can ensure that your friends - especially Nix - are involved._

 _Can't wait to see you here. Merely write 'yes' on the back of this letter and I'll come and pick you up. Hurry up. I'm not a patient Fae._

 _\- Teague_

I finish reading the letter, staring at for a few moments before tossing it on the table. I take a few deep breathes, calming myself down. The moment I read the first sentence, I knew who was speaking. Nix and I sit there in silence for a few moments, neither or us knowing what to say. How do you respond to that? Going to the castle where he lives seems like a bad idea. Yet a horrible quest getting sent my way that will involve my friends is something that I can't let happen. Gosh, he seems to know exactly what buttons to push. That awful prince.

Yet I was in love with him when he was Jared. I don't know how I feel about him now. In the tower, I can't say that I wanted to refuse him. I knew I couldn't accept his proposal either though. Ugh, this is absolutely ridiculous!

"So, he wants us to go to his castle for a party that he's hosting?" Nix finally breaks the silence to ask it. "He's doing what human teenagers always seem to do in movies when their parents leave for a little bit?"

"Except for a much longer time. Yes." I nod my head before hunching over a little and pressing my forehead against the table. "He's too good at the game he plays. We have to say yes."

"We do?" Nix tilts his head.

I pull my head up to stare him right in the eye, not sure why he thinks there should even be the slight possibility of saying no. "Well, duh, Nix."

He smirks a little, and I realize he was purposefully trying to mess with me. "Don't worry, Mina. I agree completely. Let's go. It'll be fun!"

"You're just trying to be positive to make me feel better, aren't you?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. I know he is, but I want to see if he'll confess it or not. My bet is on that he won't.

He rolls his eyes. "Of course not. I think it'll be super fun!"

"And why is that?" I ask back, crossing my arms.

"Because we don't know who will be there." And the moment he points that out, I frown. That proves a good point. We _don't_ know who will be there. "For all we know, some of our buddies will be there. Or good Fae. Maybe the prince won't be all dark at the party too."

"Alright, maybe you've made some good points." I admit begrudgingly, not wanting to be too quick in agreeing that I might've been wrong. "So, are we going to do this?"

Nix shrugs. "I was waiting for you to write the 'yes' on the back."

"Right, right." I sigh. "Where's a pencil around here when we need one?"

"We could always right in spit." I look up to stare at the nixie, disgusted, only to realize that's the reaction he wanted.

Forcing my disgusted look off, I say carefully, "My mom would not appreciate a note stating where we are when she gets home if it's written in spit. Besides, I don't think she'd even be able to read it."

"Fair enough." Nix says, shrugging. "Alright, let's find that pencil."

* * *

 **This chapter was a little shorter than I intend for the rest of the chapters to be. Sorry for that! Since it's the first one, I'm really just laying the ground works. Next chapter we'll actually be getting to the party! What did you guys think of this chapter and the story concept? Is it good? Bad? Interesting? Who are you hoping to see in this story (whether they're my oc or a book character)? Are there any games or party activities that you are hoping to see come into play? Any ships you hope might be seen briefly? What did you think of Nix staying with Mina instead of going with the Godmothers? How do you feel about Mina's reaction to the fire? What do you think of Teague's letter and plans for a party? Do you think it'll go over well? Or will it be a disaster? Is it right for them to agree to go? Please let me know any of these things or anything else you might want to let me know in a review. I really hope you guys like this story! I'm super excited for some of the things I have planned for this story, and I promise that it won't be a repeat of Truth or Dare (which I hope at least sort of shown through in this chapter, although it should be seen better in the next chapters). I apologize if this chapter was a bit boring. I will try and make the rest more interesting and longer!  
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 **Anyways, please leave a review so I'll know there is interest in this story. I will definitely continue to write it so long as someone is interested, because I really love the idea. I'll see you guys soon, whether it's updating this or if you read one of my other stories (Spotlight or Trouble). Or, if you guys are on the look out for Unfairest, I'll see you guys soon (well, not really, but you know what I mean) when I finally get that first chapter up! Thanks for the support. c: Hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of this story, and hopefully you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **~ Dagger**


	2. Chapter 2 - We Have Arrived

**Chapter Two - We Have Arrived**

 **I promise I'm actually working on my other stories. Like, seriously, I actually am. I'm just in the mood to write some happier stuff - especially since I just read Underland (which I really recommend) and am distraught that the next book is not out yet (please work on that while you work on the sixth book of An Unfortunate Fairytale, Chanda Hahn) - so I'm going to write this. I actually have the next chapter of Trouble in progress and I'm formulating the first chapter of Unfairest in my mind. As for Spotlight, I'm just currently trying to figure out whose going to be Mina's first guardian as no one has agreed on someone (and I hate choosing). So, I do promise I'm not ditching all my other stories. I am merely rolling with my muse. I'm glad this story got such positive feed back from the first chapter! I hope you guys like this one. c;**

 **life as a demigod : I'm glad you like the concept of this so far! I'm already plotting out lots of things I can do to make this interesting. :3 Don't worry, you'll see lots of different ships (especially with some of my ocs coming into play). Hopefully that won't be too confusing! I'll try and (hopefully) have some central ships of course, but there's gotta be some others thrown in. I'm looking forward to how it all plays out as well! As for whether or not it doesn't become a disaster, well, that depends on what you define as a disaster. xD I mean, what if it is a good disaster, like they trash the castle or something like that?**

 **Mikkey234 : I'm glad you love this concept! I'm super excited to go with it. And ooh, that might be interesting. I'll definitely keep that in mind! Seeing as Teague is hosting the party, I wouldn't worry too much about childishness. cx Whether or not your suspicions on how the party goes are right is something we'll have to find out about. I'm glad you couldn't wait for this chapter! Hopefully this wait wasn't _too_ bad.**

 **Evx : Haha, yup, a new story from me. cx I'm glad you're wanting to read more! That's what I'm always hoping for. Let's hope I don't disappoint you guys. I'm glad it seems so like Teague! Hopefully this update is soon enough. I'm super happy that you want to know more!**

 **Life as a Siren : I'm glad that this is a cool idea, and that you like the fact that I'm including Nix! After all, I don't think I could _not_ include the adorable nixie. He's one of my favorite characters in the series. xD**

 **Guest 1 : I'm glad you can't wait, although I hope you actually were able to so that you can see this update!**

 **Now, how about we get to the actual party? After all, Nix and Mina have just agreed to come. We have to find out what happens next, so that we can see the start of the party!**

 **Also, a few of my ocs are going to be in this chapter! I'll let you know where they're from at the end of this chapter, although I think you guys _should_ appreciate their appearance. They will certainly make things interesting.**

* * *

 _Mina's Point of View_

* * *

I'm surprised to see that Teague has managed to take us directly to the front of the Fae castle as I regain my balance from traveling across the plane. Nix looks a little green, holding his stomach. Right, I guess he won't be too used to that. Teague, on the other hand, is casually leaning against a pillar, looking rather smug.

After I'd written the note - with some help from Nix - to my mom and brother that I left on the kitchen table, explaining where we were to them, I wrote what we were told to write on the back of the letter Teague had sent. We simply had to write 'yes,' so that's what I did. How was I supposed to know that moments later, when there was a knock on the door and we opened it, we would get pulled across to the Fae plane? Because I certainly didn't. I simply wasn't expecting the Dark Prince to do that, although it _is_ Teague. Perhaps it was a bit ridiculous for me not to expect that.

But I didn't, and there's not much I can do about that now, except be a little spiteful. "Did you really have to do it like that?"

"What other way would I have done it?" He cocks his head and asks it with mocking innocence, but I can tell from the look on his face that it was completely intentional. "I hope you guys have recovered. You're the last ones to arrive; I've already fetched everyone else. Come along."

He waves his hand, and I watch the castle doors swing open. Teague leads his way up the stairs, and I step back to grab Nix's hand. It's not like I'm afraid or anything, as this is technically a temporary truce. It's just that the last two times I was here, the way I got in wasn't the most ideal way. The first time I traveled underwater and had to basically keeping kissing Nix in order to get oxygen. My cheeks go a little pink at that thought. The _other_ time, I ended up getting swept up in the competition to become Teague's wife. That makes my cheeks' tint change to red, and I quickly force that away. I haven't told anyone about that whole thing yet.

So no, I'm not scared. Why would I be scared? No, I'm just holding Nix's hand in order to help him. This must be a bit awkward for him. I'm just trying to be a supportive, good friend. Nothing more.

"Hurry up." Teague says impatiently, and I notice he makes a face at the sight of me holding Nix's hands as we make it up the stairs.

"Oh be quiet." I say in response, walking past him and ignoring his expression, although I have to admit I'm curious to know what that's about.

I quickly am forced to let go of Nix's hand, however, when someone rushes up and hugs me. I'm taken by surprise, stumbling backward, but they don't let me fall. I awkwardly hug them back, assuming I know them, and when they let go I'm relieved to see that I do.

"Eee, Mina, I am so glad you came!" Nan bounces a little, a delighted smile on her face. "I thought you might say no, especially since you haven't been leaving the house or talking to any of your friends like _me_ , and so I was worried. But even if you hadn't come, how could I have missed to have a party on the Fae plane you've been telling me about? This is super cool. And it's in a castle! Can you believe it? A castle. A real, genuine castle. No jokes. It's legit!"

"I see you've realized Nan is here." Teague says, and I glance over to see him leaning against the wall and observing what's occurring.

Nan turns her attention to Nix next, pulling him into a different hug as well. "And you're here too!"

Nix totally rolls with it, hugging her back. "You didn't expect me to let Mina go off on her own, did you? Her best friend has to keep an eye on her."

"What?" Nan looks outraged, pulling away. "Excuse me, but _I_ am her best friend."

I raise an eyebrow. "Do I even get a say in this?"

"Nope." Both of them glance over at me as they say it before turning back to focus on each other and continue the argument.

Teague, looking bored, steps in this time to halt it. "Calm down. Let's just go see everyone else here. There will need to be a few more introductions, as I've invited some of my own friends along with yours."

"Why _did_ you invite us?" Nan asks, tilting her head as Teague leads us along.

"Because Mina coming to this party will make things a lot more interesting, and she'll only do that if her friends are around and making her feel more comfortable." Teague says it nonchalantly, but I'm taken aback by his observations. I'm going to make things a lot more interesting? Why? And how does he know I'll only do that if my friends are around?

He stops at a door and uses his Fae magic to open it - probably to show off - and when it swings open I see Ever there. "Nan! I was wondering if you'd gone to go greeting. Who-" She notices Nix and me, and stops her own question. "Nix and Gimp! Hey! I wasn't sure if you guys would make it."

"What is it with everyone thinking that?" I ask, glancing at Nix, who just laughs.

"Mina?" Brody asks, offering me a nervous smile.

I glance at Nix, who offers me a tiny shrug that I think no else catches before smiling at Brody. "Hey Brody. I didn't realize you'd be here."

"Is this just going to be a reunion? Or are you going to have them stop so you can introduce us, Teague?" The comment catches me off guard, and I think it surprises the rest of my friends too.

"I forgot about them." Nan whispers to me. "There are a few guys in here, but we weren't talking to them and they weren't talking to us. I guess they're going to talk to us now though? Maybe?"

"Oh." I whisper back.

Teague sighs, walking towards the other side of the room. Distracted by my friends, I didn't realize anyone was there, but now I can feel the presence of Faes I don't know. I see two seated on the couch with one standing behind it, and they're all focused on us. Not to mention they are all boys.

He gestures to the one seated on the left side of the couch first. He's a redhead with golden yellow bangs, and he leans against the arm of the couch, watching us intently with amber eyes. He's also rather tan. "Meet Alex, a half-chimera. He's normally a super fun guy, but he can switch personalities if something triggers it. Those personalities are not _quite_ as pleasant."

"Geez, way to put me in a good light." Alex comments, and I stifle a giggle. Does he even know Teague? Actually, he probably does. That might've been a joke on his end.

Ignoring the comment, Teague points to the other guy on the couch, who has seated himself on the arm of the couch with his feet on the cushion. He definitely looks like a trouble maker; no doubt him and Teague get along. He has long, brown hair in a ponytail and mesmerizing, purple eyes. I can see his ears as well, which are pointed. That clues me in on the fact that he is an elf. "That's James. He can be a real pain sometimes, because if he sees an opportunity for causing mischief, he'll take it."

James rolls his eyes, and makes a halfhearted attempt to look innocent. "Who, me?"

"They're looking pretty hot, aren't they, Mina?" Nan says, poking me in the side, but I choose to ignore her.

Teague moves on to the guy standing behind the couch, pointing to him. Honestly, I'm surprised my eyes weren't drawn to him instantly, as he is practically glowing. Slowly though, the glow seems to dim, and my sudden interest in him dims and goes back to what it would've been. I'm guessing that has to do with what type of Fae he is. He's blonde with emerald-colored eyes, and I will admit that even without whatever Fae ability he has, he is rather handsome. "And this is Louis. Quite the charming guy. A little too much so, but then again, what can you expect from a siren?" A siren? That makes sense.

"Way to let us make impressions, Teague." Louis looks a little sour.

"Hey, you made me introduce you guys, not me." The blue-eyed prince shrugs in response, but he looks slightly pleased with himself. "Of course, if you are that offended, I cold always do the same to the other guests for you guys."

"Please do!" James looks excited.

Louis rolls his eyes. "Might as well. I'd like to know who all is here."

"Well, first we have Ever." Teague points at the pixie first. "She packs quite a punch." Does he speak from experience? "I suggest not messing with her. She's also a self-made Godmother for the current Grimm."

"Impressive." Alex says, and Ever looks slightly pleased, although I note a slightly sour look on Nix's face. What's _that_ about?

"Next we have Nan Taylor, the blonde best friend to the current Grimm who happens to be a human." Nan offers a wave and a pleasant smile as Teague introduces her. "She's too nice for her own good."

I want to yell at Teague for that comment because I have a feeling it's directed at how she treats me, but I manage to resist it as the guys nod at Teague's description, although James says, "As if that description will help us. We'll just have to get to know her ourselves."

"Not that you wouldn't have to do that already or anything." Louis comments back, smirking slightly. Obviously these guys get along pretty well.

Teague points to Nix next. "Nix, who - as you might've guessed from his name - is a nixie." It seems like he's been dying to make that comment for awhile. "He's been staying with the current Grimm and argues with Nan over the title of being her best friend."

"A Fae hanging out with a Grimm who isn't his Godmother? How did that come to be?" Louis actually sounds stunned, and I realize he thinks the current Grimm is a guy. He's in for a surprise.

"Please, do tell us what happened." Alex glances at Brody as I slip behind Nan and Nix. "I'm assuming you're the Grimm, correct?"

Brody shakes his head. "No, actually. I'm Brody Carmichael, who-"

"-is considered to be his school's resident 'Knight in Shining Armor' but is really just a pain." Teague says, and Brody scowls.

Alex looks even more confused. "You made it sound like the Grimm was here at the party though, Teague."

Teague glances around, and I realize I don't think he saw me slip behind my friends. Whether or not they did is another story. "She is."

" _She_?" James sounds stunned. "You chose a _girl_?"

"Ya, so?" He tries to sound confident, but I think Teague actually cares about what his friends think of that.

"It's just surprising. They've got to be weaker than every other Grimm you've had so far. How long have they been lasting?" Alex says.

I don't mean to say anything, but that comments upsets me. I step out from behind my friends, arms crossed as I scowl. I can see that Ever looks rather pleased with me out of the corner of my eye, but she's the only one of my friends I see the reaction of as I stand there, looking at the three Fae on the couch.

"I saw you earlier." Louis comments to me, and then glaces at Teague. "Are you going to introduce her?"

"I think she can speak for herself." Teague actually smirks at Louis, and gestures for me to go.

I don't speak for a moment, trying to figure out how exactly I want to do this, and Alex comments, "You seemed upset about my assessment of the current Grimm. Care to explain it? Are you a friend of her or something? Because if you are, I'm surprised that her best friends or Godmother didn't speak up instead."

"They didn't speak up because they think I can speak for myself." I shoot back, and I see realization on Alex's face.

Louis begins to laugh. "You've messed up now, Alex."

James looks like he opened up a gift and got something even better than he wanted. "I like her already. I see why you chose her."

I glance back at my friends, and see that Brody looks slightly sour from the attention I'm getting. Oh well, that's his problem. Not mine. I ignore it, deciding to actually introduce myself now. "Wilhelmina Grimm. You can call me Mina."

"What if I don't want to?" James asks, cocking an eyebrow.

"Sorry, you _should_ call me Mina." I stare him directly in the eyes as I say it, and he laughs.

Teague stops leaning against the wall, standing up straight. "So, now that we've got that over with, I suppose it's time for a good ice breaker game."

"We've barely even gotten here and you are already wanting to start some party activities, Teague?" Louis asks.

"It does seem rather fast." Nix agrees, looking rather nervously at Teague in case he snaps. Thankfully, he doesn't.

Instead, he shrugs. "So?" He pauses, as if considering something. "Well, I guess it's not necessarily an ice breaker game. It's more like a game to help everyone get used to the castle, as you'll all be here for a few days minimum. We can do a game that'll get everyone more used to each other after."

"What's the game?" Nan asks, raising an eyebrow.

"You humans will probably judge me, but we're going to try at least a round of Sardines." He grins. "Seeing how big the castle is, well, it should. We'll count high enough that the hider can get pretty far away from here if she or he so chooses to do that."

Sardines? He has got to be kidding. That is going to be a rather awkward, and might take a long time considering the size of this castle. I consider the fact that besides Nan and possibly Ever, it'll be pretty awkward if anyone else were to find me first. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that I'm not the hider. If anything, I could always just try my hardest _not_ to find anyone first if I'm not the hider.

"How are we picking the person that hides?" Brody asks, obviously skeptical of the whole thing.

Teague holds out a hand, which is now magically filled with paper slips. "One of these has a black dot on it. Every single other one is blank. Whoever gets the one with a dot is the hider."

So I have a chance to not be the hider. That's great! All I need to do is get a blank paper. Of course, luck is never on my side, so I guess that might put me at a disadvantage. I can only hope. Teague walks around, cupping his hands so all the papers stay in. No one's face gives anything away, and I'm one of the last to go. There's three slips left. Are any of these the one with the black dot? If I don't get it, will one of the only people left who need to pick - Nix and Teague - get it? Or does someone already have it? I pull one out, barely keeping myself from holding my breathe. When I open it, I breathe a sigh of relief. It's blank. I'm fine. I'm not going to be the one hiding.

Nix grabs one of the last slips, and Teague opens the one left before saying, "So who got the slip with the black dot?"

The purple-eyed elf steps forward. "That would be me."

"Alright, James." Teague says. "So you have a choice."

James frowns. "I thought me getting the slip meant that I get to hide."

"It does." Teague says quickly. "Unless, of course, you want to elect someone else to be the hider."

He actually is considering doing so. I watch him as he stares at Louis for a few seconds, and then Alex. He's observing them slowly and carefully, as if he's trying to decide. Then he moves on to look at my group of friends. He meets everyone's eyes except mine, because I purposefully avoid eye contact. I'm sure he'll see how desperate I am to not be the hider if he looks at me eyes and pick me because he seems to like being annoying, so this is safer. He moves on, smirking slightly, to examine the last few faces. That's when he turns back to Teague.

"I have made my decision." He announces.

Teague rolls his eyes at how proudly he makes the proclamation. "Well?"

James' smirk grows. "I think the Grimm girl should hide first?"

I nearly choke on the air I'm trying to breathe. "What?"

"You get to hide first." The elf looks over at me, and I really want to strangle him. "Go ahead. We have to count, after all. You should head along on your merry way."

"But-" I begin, hoping to find some way to weasel out of it.

Teague sticks a hand up, smirking as well. "Rules are rules, Mina. You get to hide."

I huff, but I can't think of anything that I could argue that would help me get what I want, seeing as what I want is to not be the first hider. Instead, I walk out the door, glancing both ways. I'm not familiar with this part of the castle, as all the decorations seem to have changed since when I was last here. I glance left, and then right, before deciding to go left. Honestly, I walk around for awhile before realizing they'll probably start looking for me soon. Choosing a door at random, I open it to stumble into a bedroom. It's not Teague's or any of the Fate's as far as I can tell - thank goodness for that - so I think it's just a guest room. Glancing around, I decide to hide under the bed. I quietly shut the door, making sure no lights are on and that nothing is disturbed as I tiptoe over to the bed. I glance around, not seeing any better hiding spots, before getting down on the ground and rolling under. Then? I lay there and wait.

It seems to be taking forever, although because I have no watch - for human time or Fae time - I have no idea how long it's taking. I roll around a little under there quietly, wasting my time by reflecting on my thoughts and the like. So, when the door opens, I'm taken by surprise. I stop myself from jumping at the noise, partly because that would cause noise - and I would probably make a noise - and partly because then I'd hit my head off the bed. Instead, I practically hold my breathe, waiting. I can't tell who's in the room, but they shut the door and begin to walk around the room. They're careful to disturb as little as possible in the room, and open up the closet and the dresser first to see if I'm hiding there. Right now, it seems as if I haven't given myself away yet, but who knows? I hear a noise and see a bit of light, so I guess the door has opened. It shuts, and I breathe a sigh of relief. They're gone.

"Found you." The whisper scares me out of my skin, and I jump. I let out a quiet noise of pain, rubbing my head from where it hit off the top of the bed as they slide under the bed.

* * *

 **What did you guys think of this chapter? Was it good? Bad? What did you think of some of the facial expressions certain characters were making? What did you think of Mina holding Nix's hand? Was that cute? How about Nan and Nix and their argument over who Mina's best friend is? What are your thoughts on Alex, James, and Louis in this story? Will they make the party worse? Or better? How about their relationship with Teague? Are you hoping to learn more about them? What do you think of the whole discussion on Mina being the Grimm? Do you think that went over well? And what about Teague's choice for the first game they're playing? Were you expecting Mina to get the slip that would make her the hider? And when she didn't, did you expect James to select her as hider instead when he found he was able to? Who do you think has found Mina first? I hope you guys liked this chapter. ^-^ It was fun to write! I hope it didn't seem rushed or crammed, and that it was a good length. I'd like to - hopefully - have all the chapters at this length, so if it was too long, let me know! Also, if there are any characters (ocs of mine or characters in the series) that you would like to see make an appearance in this story, let me know! I have some planned that I would like to see about slipping in somehow, however I'm not positive yet. If you guys are asking for certain characters, it will definitely make me more likely to see about including them. Let me know the same thing about ships (can include characters that you want me to include or just characters already here at the party) you would like to at least see a hint of, as well as any party activities you want to see (I have a lot of these written down as well so that I have lots of options, however I'm still looking for suggestions and ones that are suggested will probably be more likely to be included as that means people are interested). Let me know any answers to my questions or any of the things you want to see in a review, please. Thank you so much for the reviews you gave me this chapter! I was really surprised to get five on the first chapter of a story. That hasn't happened in a while on here for me (I think)!**

 **Also, if you haven't read that particular fanfiction, you might be wondering where Alex, James, and Louis are from. To answer that, they are all three from Spotlight. They are mine, so please don't use them in any of your fanfiction unless cleared with me (I haven't had any issue with any of my ocs - the only time they've been used I was completely fine with it - but I figured I should do this just in case). If you like them (they'll be sticking around for at least some of the party) and want to see more of them besides in this story, I definitely suggest reading Spotlight. They can be quite fun. xD**

 **Anyways, until my next update (whichever one that might be that you read), stay safe and anxious for an update! cx**

 **~ Dagger**


	3. Chapter 3 - Enjoying Yourself?

**Chapter Three - Enjoying Yourself?**

 **Guess who's back and pumped for another chapter of Party of the Plane? That's right, _moi_! I'm trying to make up for my little disappearance. What with reading (my poor heart), playing the Sims, and trying to actually write my book ideas (note I say _trying_ and not _succeeding_ ), I recognize that I was forgetting my stories on here, which isn't fair. So, I'm back to make up for that! Let's see what sort of mayhem is going to occur, shall we?**

 **Evx : You love hate the boys? That's probably the best way to feel about them. cx I'm not sure if they'll watch themselves. After all, they're quite the troublemakers, and they're friends with Teague. I would bet that if they find something out about Teague - a secret or something - they'd do a lot to try and make him jealous/annoyed/irritated/etc. c; But that's just a theory of course. I'm glad they seem cool though! I really love their characters, so I was excited to include them in this story. And aw, don't push James down the stairs! He just wants to see how exciting he can make this party. :D As for who found her, well, we'll just see. Sorry this chapter took so long! I hope you like it. c:**

 **Mikkey234 : I'm glad you love the unfolding already occurring! As for whether or not Nix got jealous and has a not so secret crush on Ever, well, we'll just see, won't we? :3 I will say that there's definitely going to be drama and the like when it comes to romance. It will be great. I'm glad you think the boys are going to make the story better! I love writing with them in Spotlight, so I'm super excited to include them in another story. And haha, I can see why you'd figure out James would pick Mina. You are correct, he's probably the worst troublemaker out of the three.**

 **Life as a Siren : I'm glad this is so good! Ah, that's super nice to hear. I'm glad this story is happy! That's what I'm aiming for with this one. Then people will forgive me for my cruelty. cx I'm glad you're loving the sass. I felt like all these characters together would definitely cause sass. Of course, we haven't even had a few _other_ characters join the fray yet. Then things will _really_ get exciting. :D I might even spoil a character for either Unfairest or a potential sequel to the Blank Space trilogy depending on if I can figure out their characters fully and figure out how to include them. As for whether or not Mina will figure out she's a siren, well, we'll just see! And we'll have to see if your guess on who found her is correct or not. :3**

 **life as a demigod : I'm glad you love the people from Spotlight making an appearance. I do too, but I'm the author, so my opinion doesn't really count right now. xD I'm noticing that - currently - the trend seems to be guessing/hoping that Teague or Louis finding her. Everyone who guessed has said them (Evx said them along with the other Fae boys, of course), so we'll have to see if you guys are right! I'll see about the chapter lengths. The last one was already kind of long, but we'll see. cx**

 **Now, let's find out what's going to happen next at Teague's party, and who found Mina!**

* * *

 _Teague's Point of View_

* * *

I hear Mina's quite cry of pain as she hits her head, and smirk to myself as I slide under the bed. I was hoping that - if she was in the room - making it seem like I left would give her away. And, of course, I did. She's my cured Grimm. Of course I'll be able to predict what to do in order to get the reaction I want from her. I'd be a horrible Story if I couldn't.

She rubs her head, and looks over to glare at me. "I hate you." She mumbles the words, scrunching her nose up as she does.

"I beg to differ. If you did, you wouldn't have come to this party." Not to mention she wouldn't have kissed me in the tower when she won my hand in marriage in the past, although that could've been party of her plan to kill me. There are countless other things I could point out as well, but I decide not to at this time. I'll save them for later in the party. "You look cute like that, bu the way."

"Don't do that." She says, sounding like I caught her off guard, and when I look closer I can see that her cheeks are tinged red.

"Just saying." I say, giving a casual shrug.

"You had to be the one to find me first, didn't you?" She sounds exasperated, and refuses to look at my face, which is rather irritating.

"Aw, we both know you wanted me to." I tease her more for the fun of her reactions than actually feeling that way. "I'm just incredibly irresistible. Don't worry, lots of girls act the same way." She's going red again - what a shame, she'd just begun to recover - and scowls at me, obviously not amused by that comment. Score! She looked at my face again, although I notice how quickly she averts her eyes. What is it with her and not looking at my face? "Besides, you wouldn't have picked such an obvious spot to hide."

She frowns at that. "What's that even supposed to mean? I don't see how this is obvious to anyone."

I raise an eyebrow, one of my many impressive talents. "Don't you?"

"Stop talking in riddles and tell me why this spot is apparently not a good one if I intended to hide from everyone, including you, because that _is_ what I intended." She definitely means business, and so I decide to just state it simply.

"It's the room you stayed in before." I shrug, acting nonchalant about it and as if I don't care, but honestly I want to know how she's going to react.

Her jaw drops. "What?"

"You heard me." I say back, thinking about the secret meetings we had in here. I guess they're fresher in her mind than in mine, and while I'm taken by surprise that this wasn't intentional because she knew it, I guess it makes sense. "This is the room you stayed in when you were competing for my hand in marriage."

"You know what, just shut up." She huffs, turning on to her side so that she's looking away from me.

"Oh come on, Mina." I say, rolling my eyes. "You don't want me to do that. You love hearing my voice."

"You're ridiculous." She says back, and so I army crawl a bit closer to her. "Not to mention delusional."

"Am I?" I ask, smirking. "You must like those qualities then."

I can almost hear the roll of her eyes as she says, "Did you mishear me earlier? I said shut up."

Now it's my turn to roll my eyes. "Oh, come on. You don't actually want that."

"Shut up." Man, she's definitely being stubborn, but I've been getting some excellent reactions from her today. So, naturally, I decide to see how she'll react to an idea that just dawns on me.

"That's not what normal people say to their almost fiancees." I comment, pretending to look offended as I put an arm around her.

Instantly she tries to squirm away, but she can't, and I can tell that she's appalled. "Let me go! You're a jerk."

"Yup, definitely not typical." I comment, getting a kick to the shin in response. "Ouch, what was that for, woman?"

"For not letting me go and shutting up." She growls again, sounding rather threatening, but I ignore it. "Which I suggest you do, now."

"But where's the fun in that?" I miss the sound of the door opening.

"Shut up!" She hisses at barely a whisper, and I open my mouth to respond, only to hear the sound of footsteps.

Someone gets down on their hands and knees, and I realize how close their face is to Mina. She tried to get pretty far away from me under here, and is pretty much at the edge of the bed. I recognize the blonde hair and green eyes, and quickly release Mina as Louis grins a little.

"Teague, I don't think you understand the point of this game." He comments as I roll away, and Mina moves over a little bit so that she's a safe distance from both of us.

I do happen to notice the fact that she's closer to Louis than me. Is she seriously going to trust the siren she's just met over me? Then again, I guess I'm not all that trustworthy. It's a shame Louis showed up though. I was getting some excellent reactions.

"I do understand the point." I shoot back, frowning.

"Then why'd you give your location away?" He shoots back.

"I wasn't trying to." I say lamely. "I was distracted."

"Oh ya. _Distracted_." Mina mutters, and Louis chuckles.

Glancing at me one more time and allowing me to see the mischief in his eyes for a split second, my friend turns his attention to Mina. "If it makes you feel better, he tries to tease and get reactions out of everyone he knows."

Mina shakes her head. "Nope, doesn't make me feel better. It makes me pity everyone."

I pout like a puppy who was just kicked, but Louis laughs again. "Fair enough. I suppose you would feel that way, being the current Grimm. So," He begins, "besides jumping through my cruel friend's quest hoops, what do you do with your time?"

Suddenly, she seems rather shy, and I'm taken by surprise. "Um, uh, nothing." It sounds incredibly lame, and anyone - even if they don't know her - would be able to tell she's lying. However, that makes me realize that _I_ don't even really know what she's done in her free time, and I'm the Story. Not to mention I have her mirror, although recently she was just moping about.

"Oh come on, you have to have a hobby." He says in response. "I promise I won't tease you for it. I'm much nicer than our stuck up prince." He winks, which gets a chuckle out of Mina, and I suddenly wonder what he's up to. This seems awfully suspicious.

"Well, uh, I draw sometimes." The way she says it lets on that she draws a lot, and I would bet that she enjoys it. "And, um, I've tried to sing a little bit."

I remembered the drawing thing when I thought about it. But singing? That catches me completely off guard. I've never heard her sing before, and she's always seemed to not enjoy doing it. I raise an eyebrow, wondering if I'll find out anymore about it later if not now.

Louis, however, doesn't seem to intend to ask anymore questions about that. Instead, he asks, "Do you play any instruments?"

She shakes her head, and says truthfully, "No. I've never had the money to get an instrument, and was never interested in it."

He nods his head, as if thinking, and I cock my head to silently ask him what he's thinking. He doesn't seem to notice though. "Interesting. Very interesting."

"Why is that interesting?" Mina frowns at him.

Louis shakes his head. "Oh, it doesn't matter right now." Now confused and feeling almost like Louis is trying to take something from me - I don't know what that would be yet - I try to ask him something, but he says, "We should all quit talking though. I think I hear someone."

The door opens, and I hear Alex's voice as he asks, "Think she'd hide in here?"

"No way." That's Ever speaking. "She'd put more thought into where she'd hide. All these spots seem too obvious."

"I don't know." That's Nix talking now. I'm not sure what to think of him, after what occurred when Mina and him showed up, and then with his reaction to Alex's assessment of Ever. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the nixie has a crush on Ever. Yet, if he does, then what about how he was acting with Mina? Are they actually just friends? "I mean, it's not like Mina could know how much time she had left to hide. If anything, she'd probably be trying to find the quickest hiding spot possible."

I glance at Mina, smirking at the assessment just made by Nix, and she scowls back. She doesn't speak though, and neither does Louis or me. I'm definitely not going to give away our hiding spot this time. I can see Nix's feet as he takes a step closer to the bed.

"She's not here." Ever says firmly.

"But-" Nix begins, taking another step closer to the bed.

"If Ever says she's not here, I doubt she's here, Nix." Alex comments, and I can tell that Nix tenses a little. "So you can waste your time checking in here, but Ever and I are going to keep looking."

Ever and Alex walk out, and Nix stands there for a few seconds longer. For a moment, I almost think he's not going to go. I think that he's going to bend down just to check before going to follow them. He doesn't though. Instead, with a resigned sigh, he follows after them. It almost catches me by surprise, but then I remind myself that Nix is a follower. He's never been one for leading. At least, not when Ever is around. Is he afraid of making a fool of himself in front of her? Right now, it would seem that he's feeling threatened by Alex.

Of course, he totally took the lead when he got Mina in here back when she came to save her brother, and to unknowingly give me back my other half. He kissed her a few different times underwater, and while I'm sure they'd argue that it wasn't kissing and it was just Mina getting air from Nix in order to not drown, kissing is what it looked like. The thought makes me mad, and my hands ball up into fists.

"Teague?" Louis asks. I hadn't realized he was watching me, and when I look over, I see Mina glance at me, frown, and roll her eyes before crawling forward closer to the edge of the bed. As if realizing this is for him, Louis crawls over to where I am, and Mina moves to occupy the spot where Louis just was. It's like one of the silly puzzle games humans play, where you have to get everything into a certain position by moving it. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." I snap the words, forcing my hands to loosen.

"You don't _look_ fine." Louis shoots back, and I glare at him. That seems to frighten him slightly. I'd almost thought he'd forgotten the fact that I'm called the Dark Prince. "Look, I just want to help, okay? But if you aren't talking, then fine. Whatever. I'll leave you alone."

We all stay there in silence for a while, and I think all of us are beginning to grow bored. Right when I'm considering taking a vote - only between the three of us, of course - on ending the game, James sneaks up on us. He, of course, asks Mina if she's enjoying being the first hider. In response, she tells him that she hopes he fell down a flight of stairs looking for us. This makes him chuckle, and then promptly ignores Mina for the rest of the time and focuses on talking to Louis and me. A little bit later Nan finds us, and wastes no time in commenting that Mina seems to be getting all the men. Mina doesn't look amused, cheeks going red yet again, before Nan hides with us and whispers to Mina. I think Mina's relieved to finally have a girl hiding with her, even if it's beginning to get crowded. Then Brody stumbles upon us, and of course he starts talking to Mina, although he takes the time to talk to Nan as well. Wouldn't want to seem too suspicious, after all. Shortly after, Nix comes back, alone. He seems upset, and Mina quickly begins whispering to him. I can't hear about what, but I don't like the fact that she takes his hand. Finally, when I'm once again considering ending the game and just declaring everyone except Alex and Ever the winner, they stumble into the room. Ever is giggling like a little girl and Alex looks quite pleased with himself, and we all clamber out from under the bed before they even find us. Nobody wants to stay under there for any longer.

"So, do we want to play again?" Alex asks, grinning.

There's a simultaneous response to his question from everyone except Ever and, of course, himself. "No!"

"Well, if we're not playing that again, what do you want us to play?" Ever asks, still wearing a stupid smile on her face. She looks more like a girly girl than I've ever seen her look before, and I saw her before she started wearing her signature boots.

"How about an actual ice breaker game this time?" Brody suggests in an almost critical manner, irritating me. Which is not a good idea, seeing as I'm already annoyed.

"How do you think Brody would look as a rat?" I ask no one in particular, although I guess I'm asking everyone except, possibly, Brody.

"Teague!" For once, Nan is the one speaking up and sounding horrified, not Mina. "You can't do that!"

Mina glances at Nix, who says, "You _did_ say 'no curses.'"

I cross my arms. "I meant no _Grimm_ curse. And besides, it wouldn't be a curse. Maybe he'd enjoy it. He'd look better that way."

Brody glares at me, but James chuckles while Louis says, "Save that for a later game, Teague. You know, the one you, me, Alex, and James used to play as kids?"

I nod. "Fair enough. How about we play Two Truths and A Lie right now? Since _someone_ informed me that we had to play an ice breaker game." I suggest, but before I can get any further with the thought, James interrupts.

"Oh come on, Teague. That's the best you can come up with? That's a game to play later on, when we've worn out some of the more interesting ones." He says, annoying me even further. By the end of this I'm sure I'll have murdered someone, even though I said I wasn't going to. "How about we play Truth or dare instead?"

"Truth or dare?" Ever raises an eyebrow. "Shouldn't everyone know each other before playing that game?"

Nix, seeming annoyed with the pixie, seems like he's trying to be a jerk as he says, "Do we all know each other? Check. Done."

Based on the look on Ever's face, you'd think Nix just slapped her, although she quickly recovers. "I meant know each other _better_."

He shrugs his shoulders, so I decide to take the reigns. "Well, we aren't playing in here. Come on. I hope you guys didn't make a mess while searching."

James gives me a guilty grin. "No promises."

"Great." I mutter, leading the way into an area that, for the purpose of this party, has been turned into a lounge. "Sit in a circle."

"On the ground?" Alex looks appalled, and I want to hit him.

Thankfully, Louis does for me. "Yes on the ground, idiot. You've never had a problem with it before."

"Just trying to annoy Teague further." He comments before sitting down right next to Ever, the spot Nix was about to take. The nixie seems to bite back an angry comment before going to sit next to Mina, and Louis sits on her other side. My annoyance just keeps growing. Are they trying to make me murder someone despite my promise not to?

"Who wants to go first?" I say, taking a deep breathe to try and stay calm.

"Ooh, I will!" Squeals Nan from her spot between Ever and Brody, hand waving in the air as if she's trying to desperately get a teacher's attention in school. "Teague, truth or dare?"

I stare suspiciously at her and her grin, and then carefully say, "Truth."

"Scared, Teague?" Brody questions.

"No, I just know enough about Nan to not trust her dares. I'll save the honor of getting the first dare for someone else." I respond.

"Whatever, whatever." Nan says, waving her arms about as if she's waving away the comments. "Teague, what was your first kiss like? I want details."

The question actually catches me off guard. I honestly wasn't expecting it, and Nan grins even wider at me. I think she realizes just how surprised I am. When I think about it, I quickly realize the fact that I was never concerned about love before the contest to win my hand in marriage. My first kiss was in the tower the girls had to get to...and with Mina. I should be relishing in the opportunity to hash this out _because_ Mina is in, but I decide against it. I can't lie, but I just won't say who it was. I'm not sure yet if she's told her friends about going back in time - and if she did, I don't know how much she's told - and it'll be better coming from her mouth. Taking a deep breathe, I formulate all the facts in my head, being careful to make sure I won't hint that it's Mina.

"You know, I never realized it before, but my first kiss happened during the contest to marry me. It happened inside of the tower at the end, with the girl that was supposed to be my fiancee." Even as I say the words, I see horror beginning to show itself all over Mina's face, and Ever looks at her, obviously concerned.

"You were going to get married?" Brody asks, obviously taken by surprise. He, like everyone else, seems to not notice Mina's predicament.

"Wonder what went wrong there." James comments, but I can tell he's joking. If only he knew.

Ever stands up. "I'm sorry, I just realized I forgot something. I'll be back in two beats of my wings. I know exactly what room it's in, but I'd feel more comfortable if someone came with me."

"I'll g-" Both Nix and Alex start, but she cuts them off.

"Mina, do you mind coming with me?" Mina nods mutely when Ever asks, her face no longer showing any more of her horror or pain - if I wasn't imagining it - as she hurries out with her. I don't want to feel bad for her, yet I do. She wasn't expecting that, and I doubt it was fair. She probably thinks I was going to tell everyone that it was her, but I didn't intend to. I wish I could try and comfort her a bit. There's no way I can properly tease her if she's broken.

However, I ignore her, and as the door closes continue on with my story. It's not like I could actually do anything to help. "There was a maze, and the job was for one of the girls to reach the tower in the center. There had already been two contests, which narrowed down the group from twelve to four girls. The one who I'd basically rigged the contest for made it. Honestly, I was a bit surprised. There was a part of me that doubted that she would come. It just seemed natural to kiss then, although I couldn't tell you why. I spun her around, trying to pull her as close to me as possible. I didn't want to let her go."

"That sounds so romantic." Nan comments, not seeming bothered by the fact that she's the only girl in the room as she fakes swooning, nearly falling on to Brody, who carefully pushes her back up.

"It didn't last." I say in response. "In case you might've noticed, I'm not married."

"What happened?" She asks, and for a moment I almost want to spill the story, knowing if I did I'd force myself not to give away that it was Mina. I have to make myself let her be the one to explain, no matter how much I hate the idea. No matter how angry the idea if it makes me.

So, I give her a simple answer that I don't intend to elaborate on. "She was involved in an assassination. Now she's dead to me, and the engagement is long forgotten and not considered as correct."

Nan looks upset by that. "I'm so sorry, Teague."

I snort at that. "Do you think I care? If you do, you're wrong. I hate her for it." Plus, technically, she should be dead. I tossed her out of the tower. She's not though, because she traveled to the other plane and then came back to her actual time.

She frowns. "Doesn't hating someone count as caring?"

I decide not to answer that. "Brody," I say, turning my attention to the annoyance, "truth or dare?"

"Dare." Obviously he intends to one up me, but I'm not going to let him.

"Let Nan put whatever make up she would like on you, and keep it on for the rest of the day." I smirk, and I can see the horror in his eyes.

Before he can protest, Nan breaks out in laughter. "Yes! Let's do it. There's just one problem though." She frowns. "I didn't pack any make up."

Brody looks relieved, but I'm not going to let him by that easily. I wave a hand lazily, causing more make up than she could possibly need to appear. "Will this be enough?"

"Yes!" She lunges forward, grabbing some crimson lipstick while trying to get Brody to cooperate. "Hold _still_."

Ever walks back in at this point, and stares in confusion at the scene unfolding. Her answer comes from Alex, who's grinning as he states that Brody was dared to let Nan put make up on him and to keep it on for the rest of the day. Nix pays no attention to her, trying to support his friend instead.

"Where's Mina?" Louis asks the pixie, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, where is the Grimm?" James asks, leaning forward.

"She had to use the bathroom." Is her answer as she glances at the door. "I'm sure she'll be back at any time."

I can tell she's making an excuse for Mina. I don't even know if Mina knows where any of the bathrooms are, if she didn't remember that the room she hidden in was one she stayed in previously. So, after a moment's hesitation, I decide to go find out where the Grimm actually is and try and unbreak her. It's when I'm trying to find an excuse to why I should go that something smacks me in the face. "Oh crap, I left something on the stove in the kitchen."

"You did what?" Brody cries, and Nan proceeds to scold him for moving and messing up the lipstick.

"Typical Teague." Louis chuckles, acting as if I didn't make a mistake that could cause a fire, although I guess with Fae magic a fire isn't _all_ that worrying.

"You guys make sure Brody goes through with the rest of his dare. Don't let him cheat. Then, keep playing. I'll go fix that and then come back, and I'll jump back in then." I say, and then as an after thought, add, "Don't break anything. Please. Ever," I glance at the pixie, "I don't trust the boys or Nan. Please don't let them destroy the castle." We can't do that on the first day. Maybe later, as the party gets crazier, but not on the first day at the second game. "Please?"

"Who says you can trust me?" She shoots back, but when I begin to narrow my eyes, she concedes and says in a tone that isn't too convincing, "Sure, I'll make sure they don't break anything."

I'm not sure if I can actually believe that, but it's the best I can get right now. So, I take it, and go over to the door. Even as I do I can feel Fae magic on it that was _not_ there previously. I glance at Ever, who is thoroughly distracted by Nan as she tries to put mascara on Brody, wondering if she did it. But why? Shaking it off, I open the door, and step out. The moment I do, the sound of someone close by reaches my ears, and it's loud enough that it _should_ have been heard inside the room. That's when what the magic was there for hits me. Ever managed to put up a spell on the room to block sound coming in. And I can guess why.

Mina seems as if she's short of breathe, and I can see that she's trembling as she leans against a pillar. When I look closer, I see that she's sweating, and one hand clutches her stomach as the other tries to massage her head. Suddenly I realize that I guessed wrong. I thought she was out here crying, but she's not. She's having a panic attack. Why did Ever leave her out here alone like this?

I force myself to try and stay calm, coming over and kneeling beside her. I have to stay calm. She's already in a quiet spot, so I don't have to move her, but I don't know if she has these often enough to take medicine that I should give her. And even if she does and I knew the medicine, I might not even be able to use it. Hopefully I won't surprise her with this, but even if I do, I think it's better that I try to calm her than not surprise her by helping.

"Mina." I say, forcing myself to sound calmer than I feel. I've never seen her like this before. "You can get through this." I get no response from her, and can't help but feel guilty. Was this caused by me? "What you are feeling is scary, but it's not dangerous." She probably knows that, but I'm hoping it'll help. "Concentrate on your breathing. Breathe at the same time as me, okay?"

I breathe in and out, and slowly, she manages to match it. It's slow, but I can tell that she's calming down. I let out an inward sigh of relief. Even though I managed to stay calm on the outside, on the inside I was terrified to see Mina in such a state. I've never seen her like that before. I so badly wanted to hold her close like I wanted to in the castle and protect her, but that was quickly replaced by an inexplicable rage. I almost savored seeing her like this before forcing myself to stop that and just focus on helping her without considering either side of me and the urges they have.

"Are you feeling better?" She nods in response after I ask. "Tell me what you need. I have to get to the kitchen, but I can grab you something."

She shakes her head, and meets my blue eyes with her own, big, brown ones. "Stay, please."

I glance around, biting my lip. "Look, Mina, I might've unintentionally done something that'll cause a fire if not handled, although it might've already. I have to go fix it."

She takes a deep breathe. "Then I'll go with you."

I raise an eyebrow. "I would think I'd be the last person you'd want to go with."

"Do you think I want to go back in there with all of them in this state? Can you imagine what Brody would do?" She says that rather bitterly. "Or Nan? Or Nix? Or even Ever?"

"She didn't know that that was occurring?" I ask. That would explain why she left Mina out here alone.

She shakes her head. "She didn't know. She talked to me for a bit, and thought that I was just going to break into horrified tears." Her breathe seems to speed up a little. "How did they react when you told them? They're all horrified now, aren't they? They'll probably kill me for not telling them."

"I didn't tell them that you were my first kiss." I say, frowning at her. "I'm going to leave you the honors of telling them, whenever you intend to do that. I'm not that cruel."

"Thank you." She says, trying to get up onto her feet. I can see her trembling legs, and instinctively reach out to balance her. She hesitates, before carefully shaking my hand off. "I'm fine. Let's go."

"You're not fine." I argue. "Look, let's wait till the symptoms calm down a little."

She frowns at me. "Seriously? You just told me you might be causing a fire!"

Right. I momentarily forgot about that. "Then you stay here, and I'll go fix my mistake."

She shakes her head yet again. "No, I don't want to be by myself. I don't want it to happen again." I don't think it would happen again so soon, but I don't know that for sure, so I can't argue against that. "I'll go with you."

After a moment, I give in and nod. "Okay. Come on."

I begin to walk slowly beside her, ready to steady her if her trembling legs give way beneath her, and she whispers so that I consider that maybe I imagined it, "Thank you."

* * *

 **That was an interesting chapter, I hope. Was it good? Bad? I hope there wasn't too much in it! I know I was asked to do a longer chapter, but I don't want them to be too long. If it was, let me know! Did you guys like getting a chapter in Teague's head? How did you feel about all his teasing of Mina when he first found her? Good job to those of you guessing it was Teague, by the way! How did you feel about the appearance of Louis after? What do you think he was up to when he was talking to Mina? And what about poor Nix being the third wheel? Does it seem like he has a crush on Ever? What about how Alex is acting, and how Ever is acting? There's already romance in the air. Were you expecting Nix to follow them out? How about when they started truth or dare? Were you expecting Teague to pick truth? And what about his answer? Did you feel bad for Mina, and were you expecting that reaction? How about Brody's dare? It's quite an excellent one, is it not? We'll find out how that one went later. Were you expecting Mina to react the way she did to the news? Please let me know if I offended you with that, as I won't do it again if I offended anyone. I certainly was not trying to. What do you think will happen next? What truths or dares do you want to see happen, and to who? Is there anyone or any ship you'd like to have grace us with its presence? Please, let me know! :D As I stated before, some technically spoiler characters may be making an appearance, but I don't know just yet.  
**

 **Anyways, please review if you want to see more! And please let me know if that was too long/overwhelming. I know it might've been! I do hope you guys enjoyed it though. The end was a bit more serious than I originally intended, but I don't intend to have those moments very often. c: Let me know what you guys thought, please, and if there are any truths/dares/characters/ships/games you'd like to see!**

 **Anyways, until next time!**

 **~ Dagger**


	4. Chapter 4 - Sorry I'm Late

**Chapter Four - Sorry I'm Late  
**

 **Haha, so maybe I lied about just doing one-shots. I'm here with another update of this story for you, although I do intend to stick mainly to one-shots for now. Also, I'm going to throw this out here. LoveBooks4EverFanasty and I have talked about us both having these party stories, and neither of us are going to be copying off each other. They are a really nice person, and I'm sure their story is going to be unique and awesome. ^-^**

 **Plus, I feel like I owe all you wonderful people a chapter of some story on here, and Evx suggested I update this story because it's the one she wanted. XD So, here we are! A new character is going to be jumping in this chapter (and several more will be joining in the story later). There's something odd about them. If you've read some of my one-shots or some of my previous stories, maybe you can figure it out?**

 **Life as a Siren : I'm glad it's so good, and that you can't wait to see what happens next! Of course, as I always say, I hope you actually can wait. I know how painful it is to though. *stares pointedly at Evx* c; And I was too! I was really torn on whether or not he should. I'm glad you're loving Teague so far! Whether or not he stays like that will just have to be seen. And I'm glad you really liked the last part! I loved writing it that way. Of course, now Teague's got to do something to mess that up, right?**

 **Evx : I'm glad that you loved it, and that you feel bad for Nix. You're supposed to, as I'm sure you gathered. :3 And I love writing Teague's point of view in situations like this, so expect at least a few more chapters with it in it. Besides, I miss writing Jared and Teague commentary in his head. Maybe I'll bring it back? I dunno. And I'm glad you liked him helping! I thought it would win him some points and it would show just how much - in this story - going back in time impacted her. I agree, good thing Teague helped! Here's the update, as you requested. xD**

 **life as a demigod : I'm glad it's kind of obvious! It's supposed to be. But yes, pity him. It's always painful to watch your crush be with someone else. ;-; And yay, Teague is starting to like Mina! As for why Ever didn't catch it, well, we'll find that out later, don't worry. Trust me, it wasn't her fault. Mina may or may not be omitting some stuff. c; I'm glad it was unexpected!**

 **So, shall we find out what happens next? After all, the lovely Mina and Teague have to see about that stove, don't they?**

* * *

 _Teague's POV_

* * *

I walk along, still keeping a careful eye on Mina as we make our way to the kitchen. Now she seems fine, and is actually walking farther away from me. It seems like her moment of vulnerability is over, or she's mortified over having me find her like that. I would bet probably the latter.

And of course, my sympathy for her is finished too, so I walk over and wrap an arm around her. "Feeling better?"

She squeaks, ducking away and scowling at me. "Not anymore."

I smirk. "Aw, what a shame. Do I need to carry you?"

There's horror all over her face as it goes red. "What? No!" She shakes her head once again. "Why did I come with you again?"

For a moment, I think about holding her panic attack over her, but then I decide not to. That's too cruel even for me. "Because I am fabulous."

She snorts. "Debatable." However, she quickly makes her face go back to a frown, trying to hide her red cheeks. "Stop that."

"What?" I ask innocently. "I'm not doing anything."

"Yes you are!" She snaps, seeming a bit defensive. "So just stop."

I chuckle. "Aw, you know you love it."

"I do not!" She's practically hissing at me now, hands balled into fists as she glares at me and shakes. "Shut up!"

I realize I've probably gone a bit far now, so I take a deep breathe and try to calm her down. "Okay, I get it. Calm do-"

She shakes her head, pointing a finger at me. "Don't tell me to calm down!"

For a moment, I consider kissing her to shut her up, but quickly shove that Jared thought away. There is no way I'm doing that. This girl is a murderous, backstabbing assassin who played with my emotions. She made me who I am today, although I'm not all that bad in my own opinion. But the principle of the matter is that she's horrible.

 _If she's so horrible, why did you invite her?_

I nearly stop in my tracks. That wasn't my thought. I've never had that happen before. What on earth is going on?

 _Miss me, brother?_

Oh gosh no. Oh please, oh please no. You've got to be kidding me. Not-

 _Yep. That's right. It's me, your favorite brother, Jared. I'm back to torture you in your head through conversing with you and probably fight for control every once and a while, and show you how stupid and dense you can be._

"Leave me alone." I don't mean to say the words out loud, but I do.

I expect Mina to say something - maybe even get upset over how I'm telling her to leave me alone when she's the one who should and has been saying that, even though it's not directed at her, although I can't say who it's directed at - but she doesn't. I frown, glancing over at her. Well, I glance over at where she _was._ She's not there anymore.

"Mina?" I ask, looking around. "Where are you?"

There's no response. Just silence. I can't see anyone, but I'm not sure where she's gone. She can't be far. I didn't zone out for long.

"Mina, this isn't funny." I say, taking a few steps forward. "Answer me!"

I don't get the answer I'm hoping for. She doesn't even jump out, having hidden in order to scare me. Instead, I hear a squeak of surprise, and find myself rushing forward. Oh gosh, what was I thinking? She just had a panic attack, and then I was messing with her. What if she's hurt? I pretty much promised that no one was going to get injured at this party. At this point I don't even care if Jared is influencing my thoughts. I will feel guilty if I caused her to get hurt after she had a panic attack. That's not cool, even for me to do. How long was I zoned out for?

I turn a corner, and come to a halt, eyes wide, as someone says, "Ah, there you are, Teague!"

A boy stands in the middle of the hallway, grinning at me. He's got dark brown hair along with dark green eyes, and he's holding a terrified-looking Mina in his arms. As if he's only just realized this, he releases her, and grins.

"Sorry I'm late. I was busy you know. There was some business I was attending to that ended abruptly and with no real conclusion, a meeting I had to go to, and then I had to go help at something. It was a really big hassle. I'm here now though." Peter Piper looks quite pleased with himself. "I let myself in through the back, and I saw how much of a mess there was in the kitchen. Quite a nasty fire you had going. I hope it wasn't intentional. I was putting it out when Mina stumbled in, and I'm afraid I scared her out of her mind." I barely catch him mutter, "And she has all the reason to be terrified of me after what's happened," under his breathe, but I don't know what that means.

"Why were you hugging her?" I raise an eyebrow as Mina ends up inching over to me and pretty much hiding behind me, looking scared out of her wits.

Voice shaking out of nervousness, Mina adds, "And while you are answering questions, how do you know my name?"

"Oh, well she tripped twisting to get out of the room. I came and helped her up, but she jumped in surprise. Hence why I was hugging her, because she nearly fell. Again." I glance at Mina to confirm his story, and her face goes red. "As for her name, well, you told me that."

Now it's my turn to have my face go red as Mina tries - and fails - to raise just one eyebrow in question. Guess she just doesn't have my skill. "I don't remember that, but okay."

"Did I miss a lot?" He asks, casually brushing hair from his face as he walks over and past us. "I hope not. I know you asked me to plan some games and I have some fun ideas."

I shake my head. "Oh no, you didn't miss much."

Mina scoffs. "That's what he says."

I raise an eyebrow - which she scowls at - and ask, "Would you like me to tell him what all he's missed, Mina?"

"No." She bites her lip and stares down at the ground.

"Are you two dating?" Peter's comment catches me completely off guard, and my mouth hangs open as I go to stare at him. The moment I see my face, I realize he's doing it specifically to mess with me.

Before I can say anything, Mina squeaks out a horrified, "No!" before running off ahead of us.

"Interesting. Surprised nothing has happened at this party yet. I must not have been as late as I thought." Peter muses, seemingly more to himself than anyone else.

"What on the plane are you going on and on about?" I ask, exasperated with him already. Sometimes he's awesome. Other times? Not so much. I think he broke Mina. Again. Now I have to find her and make sure she doesn't get lost. Hopefully she doesn't go far.

"What?" He asks, looking up. "Oh, nothing."

 _He's an odd one, that's for sure._ Jared comments, and I scowl at his criticism of my choice of people that I invited.

Then, he grins a little. "That reminds me though. I invited someone to the party. They should be showing up in a day or two."

"You invited someone?" I tilt my head. "What? Who gave you permission to?"

"No one. That's the best part." He chuckles. "Don't worry, they're super fun. A real party animal." He chuckles as if it's some sort of inside joke. "Anyways, let's go. I have a great game idea."

"Lovely." I groan, but follow after him. Hopefully we can catch up to Mina and wherever she's gone off too.

 _My thoughts exactly._ I wrinkle my nose in disgust. Jared and I in agreement? That should never happen.

As we're walking down the hallway, I look to see that a door is hanging wide open, and it's one that wasn't doing so before. I can't tell from where I've stopped which room it is though.

Carefully, I glance at Peter. "Wait here. I'm just going to check it out."

Honestly, I'm not scared. I just really don't want Peter coming with me, because I have a good idea as to whose in here. I just can't figure out why. Not waiting for Peter to agree, I step through the door, and glance around at a large library.

Frowning, I walk forward, and calmly say, "Mina, come on out. We should be heading back to be with everyone else."

She surprises me by actually responding. I thought she wouldn't. She pops her head out from behind a bookshelf and walks right past me. "Just checking."

I blink in confusion. "Just checking _what_?"

"It doesn't matter." I have a feeling I'm not going to get anywhere with this conversation, so I drop it and follow her.

The rest of the walk back is in a rather awkward silence, at least for me. Peter strikes up a conversation with Mina, who keeps glancing at me and seeming uncharacteristically frightened by him. I mean honestly, he's not that scary. I don't see her problem. He's practically the same height as her, maybe a bit smaller, and looks pretty weak. He's not of course, seeing as he has all that magical power with music, but he looks like it.

We reach the room we were playing in, and I open the door and step inside. "We're back. Crisis averted thanks to-"

"-me." Peter steps out from behind me, grinning widely. "Peter Piper is here."

As he talks, I frown. He seems a bit different from usual, but then again, he always is. Every time I talk to him, his personality seems a little different. Must be because of all his musical power.

"I'm back too." Mina says, and when I glance at her I see no trace of her fear or anything else. When did she get so good at hiding it? She wasn't doing so well at it on our walk. As if she can feel my gaze, I catch her glance over at me, and an ever so slight blush appears as she scowls. "What did I miss?"

I look at everyone else to prepare for their answer, and then I see what a disaster the room is. Or should be in. It actually isn't messed up at all. I'm impressed. Ever actually kept her word.

"Hm, let's see." Nan says, closing in her eyes in thought. "You missed Teague's story about his first kiss. It was so sad!"

I risk yet another glance at Mina as she says it, and see that the Grimm is starting at the ground. Obviously she disagrees on how sad that story was. Well, if she disagrees with how I told it, she should've stayed, exposed that she was my first kiss and that I was technically hers seeing as she kissed me earlier in time than she kissed Brody, and told her lying side of the story.

 _Unless she's not lying, and you don't know the full story._

"Then I got to put make up on Brody, so now he's hiding over there." Nan gestures to behind a couch.

I grin as I hear Mina snicker, and say in Brody's direction, "I almost forgot about that dare. Carmichael, come on out! I want to see it!"

"No way!" is the response I receive.

"Let's see, then Nix had to answer which party guest he'd be okay living with, but he cheated and said you, Mina." Nan says, sounding like she's still rather bitter about it. I except Mina to at least snicker - I know I did - but instead she looks at Nix, and an unspoken message seems to pass between them. "He then asked Ever to tell us which guy in the room she'd kiss if she had to kiss one, and she said Alex."

Mina actually glares at Ever, catching me off guard. What is _that_ about? For a moment, I wonder if she's worried about the competition for Alex. Unintentionally, my hands ball up into fists, and I find myself irrationally frustrated. I shake it off, frowning. Why should I care who Mina is interested in? I don't. Besides, she doesn't seem all that interested in Alex.

"Then," Nan says loudly, getting everyone's attention back on her, "Ever dared Alex to sing all of the My Little Pony theme song which he apparently knows by heart because he's a brony. It was actually rather impressive. I still applaud you for it." She directs the last comment at Alex, clapping a few times before continuing. "Let's see, then Alex dared me to go a whole day without drinking any coffee," Thank goodness for that, "and I asked James who he disliked the most at this party. He said either Alex or you, Teague."

That gets a giggle from everyone, except for me. I scowl at him. "I'll remember that next time we're playing any games, or next time I'm throwing another party and trying to decide who to invite."

He just shrugs and grins. "That'd be your loss, not mine."

Sometimes I hate that punk.

"And finally, James dared Louis to do something that he still needs to do." She turns to stare pointedly at the siren.

Nix looks at Mina, and he seems to be trying to get her attention in order to tell her...something. I can't decipher his facial expressions or his mouthed words though. Mina can't either, although that's because she doesn't even see him, not because he's so bad it. She's too focused on James, and she stares at him. If I were going to guess what she's doing, she's trying to figure out what dare he would give someone.

I notice Louis sigh before standing up and walking over towards us. I stare at him, raising an eyebrow in question. In response, he winks and gives me a gesture that seems to say 'it was not my idea.' That's concerning.

He reaches Mina and stops, finally catching her attention. She looks up at him, nose scrunching up in confusion.

 _Adorable, isn't it?_ Jared needs to get out of my head.

Louis pauses, and for the briefest moment I see him smirk. Then, he takes her hand and gently kisses it for a second. Mina's eyes widen, and she stares at him in shock. Her brain seems to register that that was the dare, and she glares at James. I do too, although no one's paying attention to me. Thank goodness.

Louis actually looks pretty pleased with himself as he looks at everyone. "There. I kissed her, just like you dared me to."

James scowls, but Alex beats him to responding. "Everyone knows what he meant when he dared you to kiss Mina, Louis. You just dodged it."

My hands ball up into fists, although I try to hide them behind my back. I shouldn't be so angry over this, so I'm not quite sure why I am. But seriously, James dared Louis to kiss Mina? Why?

"Oh come on, you're just mad that I was so clever in getting around it." Louis says, rolling his eyes, although he says it in a joking tone. "But if it matters so much to you that I do it correctly, well..."

He trails off, and I realize what he's going to do about a second before he does it. The same is not true for Mina. Instead, she's caught completely off guard as his lips touch hers. I blink in shock. No. He did not just kiss her.

But he did. Louis just kissed Mina. I swear I see red as it happens, and it takes all of my energy not to rip him away from her and murder him brutally in front of everyone. At this point I'm positive that Jared is causing me to get so angry over this. He's always been possessive over Mina, after all.

 _Oh, it has to be? That's a shame, because I haven't been making you do anything yet._ This is all you, brother.

I ignore that comment. He's just denying it to...to make sure I have my guard down.

Louis pulls away from the kiss, and Mina is left looking confused. Again.

"Sorry about that." He says, sounding quite sincere. Then, after a pause, he adds with a grin and a wink, "Not that I minded all that much. Although I think someone else did."

It takes me about half of a second to register that he's talking about me when he says someone else disliked them kissing. For a moment, I panicked. Did anyone else catch me losing control to Jared? Because it definitely was losing control to Jared, not my own feelings. Thankfully, it appears that no one did.

"R-right." Mina mumbles, shying away and seeming to almost hide behind her hair. "Ya. Apology accepted."

Louis walks Back to where he was sitting and sits back down. As he does, I watch Mina's gaze follow him. She looks like a silly school girl looking at her crush. And that's when it hits me. Oh crap. She was just kissed by a siren. Now he's going to have gone and messed with her emotions, because sirens have that affect on people. Crap! I hate that siren!

 _Why does it make you so mad that he messed with Mina's emotions?_

I realize in horror that Jared actually asked a legitimate question. Even though it shouldn't be making me mad - in fact I should be relishing over the fact that Louis probably has Mina under some enchantment now, and that she'll just end up getting hurt because Louis is a siren - but it does. Maybe this party wasn't my best idea ever. Was I bored? Yes. But there are plenty of things that coud've helped with that, like a quest. This party had just resulted in my emotions being all over the place, and Jared starting to talk again. However, I don't really want to blame the party. It's actually been rather interesting so far. So I'll just blame Jared instead. He always messed everything up before. Why would it be different now?

"Let's just play a different game." I say, and it requires all of my energy not to sound extremely agitated as I speak.

Louis catches my agitation though, and snickers. Which of course causes me to glare at him. What a great best friend he turned out to be. He's just so incredibly supportive, isn't he?

"But didn't you say you were going to rejoin the game when you came back?" James tilts his head as he asks. I take a deep breathe, trying incredibly hard not to give it away. Louis has obviously noted how irritated I get over him messing with Mina, seeing as I enjoy messing with her and don't want him messing it up for that reason only. Although I guess that was my fault, after what happened in Sardines, although I don't intend on telling him that. I don't want James to catch on as well. It would be miserable.

I shrug my shoulders casually, staying calm because I envision beheading the elf. "Well, I changed my mind. Peter here says he has an idea for a game, so let's find out what it is."

"Alright." Alex says, almost surprising me with his support. I would've thought he'd try to give me as hard of a time as possible, seeing as he, Louis, and James are all my friends. That's what guy friends do after all. "Let's stand up in a circle and hear him out."

"Aren't we already sitting in a circle for the most part?" Nix and Nan ask the question in perfect sync, although Nan sounds genuinely sincere while Nix sounds rather salty. The nixie then adds, "Teague, Mina, Brody, and Peter just need to join the circle and then we're all good."

"Well I for one like Alex's idea." Ever say, standing up, and I catch Nix briefly glaring at his hands.

Everyone ends up slowly following in suit, and we gather around Peter so that we can listen to the game. Nix, looking rather frustrated, whispers something I can't make out to Mina. Apparently it flusters her though, because her faces goes red. She punches him in the arm and whispers something back, causing his face to go red in response. They both make faces at each other, and then start snickering, both covering their mouths. Everyone stares at them for a moment till they calm down, and I decide that no one else knew what they were whispering about either. Once they're calm, everyone's attention goes to Peter. I frown in thought. I can't figure those two out. Sometimes they act like a couple, and other times they act like brother and sister. I wish they would just make up their mind and decide on which way they're acting.

Right as Peter opens his mouth to speak, I do a quick head count and realize that someone is missing. Brody. So, obviously I need to get home over here before we play. "Carmichael, stop hiding and get over here! You have to play too."

"yes, come on out, Brody." Nan says, trying and failing to cover up her giggling. "Show everyone my fabulous work."

Slowly, Brody stands up, facing away from us. Then, he turns and walks over to us, head hanging in shame. All of us - even those who already saw him, like James and Nan - break out into laughter. Eye shadow, eye line, blush, and lipstick adorn his face. He looks absolutely awful, and I love it. It's even better than I could've hoped.

Through fits of laughter, Mina manages to say, "Don't feel like you need to hide your face or feel embarrassed, Broody. You look very pretty." She doesn't sound sincere at all. I doubt she'll ever look at him the same way again.

The comment, of course, just makes him angrier. And that makes all of us laugh just a tiny bit longer. Finally, when everyone is all calmed down, Peter waves to get everyone's attention on him.

"Great, so now that we can at least look at Brody and almost take him seriously, let me tell you about the game idea." He grins mischievously. "For those of you who don't know me here - so anyone not named Teague, Louis, James, or Alex - I'm Peter Piper. My specialty magic happens to have to involve music. It's pretty sweet, especially because I can control people with it."

At that comment, Mina, Brody, Nix, Nan, and Ever all take a cautious step away from him. Which, of course, leads to James and Peter laughing.

Peter calms down and, still grinning, says, "No worries. I have no reason to control you guys...for the moment at least. No promises once it's later in the party." He doesn't sound super honest about the whole 'I have no reason to control you guys' part.. However, I can't figure out what his reason would be. He doesn't know any of those guys, right?

"Enough about you, Peter." Louis speaks up to try and reel the conversation back in. "Can you just get to the point and tell us about your game idea?"

"Technically it's not my own, original idea, but we're going to pretend it is." Peter's grin widens. "We'll be doing a lip sync competition. All the songs will be duets, so you'll have a partner, although that partner will change every round, as we'll do several rounds. After each round, each person - whether they are still in or not - will put in one vote for who was the worst, and whichever group has the most votes against it is out of the running. Then we mix everyone up for the next round so that you have a different pair. The songs will be prepicked by myself for each round with a specific order, and we'll pull names out of a hat to find out who's with who and which song you'll be getting.'

After a rather awkward pause to make sure Peter isn't going to say anything else and to check for questions, everyone nods their head in understanding. Brody sort of puts a voice to the action by saying, "Alright. Let's do this."

"Right." Peter claps his hands together before turning to me. "Do you think you could get me a hat with everyone's name in it?"

Effortlessly and in an almost bored fashion, I wave my hand, causing one of the ridiculous top hats my mother got me - and is insisting that I wear one to some event that I'm sure I won't be attending - to appear in Peter's hand. Then I create the slips of paper with everyone's names on them inside it. The task is insanely easy, and does nothing to drain me. At this point, creating things with Fae magic is...actually kind of boring.

Peter looks inside and nods, seeming to be satisfied by the job I did, as he should be. "Alright. So the first song is, well, actually a secret. I'll tell the two singers - and only them - what it is after they're selected. That way the song is a surprise to all the other pairs. Now that that's explained, let's find out who the first pair is going to be, shall we?"

"Enough with the theatrics, Peter." Alex says, rolling his eyes. "Just pull two slips out and tell us the names on them."

Still grinning, the piper reaches inside the hat and pulls out two slips of paper. "Mina, you are a part of the first pair. Your partner will be..." He opens up the second slip, obviously savoring the suspense building up, "Louis."

"Great." Louis grins at Mina, and I carefully note the blush that begins to form on her face. That used to happen whenever she looked at me. I haven't had the opportunity to try and make it happen since Louis has kissed her. Do I still make her blush like that?

 _Isn't it interesting how you care so much about making Mina blush?_

I groan inwardly. It really isn't all that interesting. It doesn't mean anything. Jared just seems to think it does.

 _It's almost like you like her._

I decide to ignore that comment. Instead, I focus as Mina gets a song title whispered to her by Peter. She frowns upon hearing it, as if trying to remember the words or see if she even knows it. Then, after a moment, she shrugs and walks out to go find a place to practice. Louis goes to follow her, but as he does he glances at me and winks. What a rat! He's totally doing this to me on purpose. But why is it getting to me? And how on the plane did Louis know this would work?

 _Because you're in love with her._

Geez, he jumped to that false conclusion very quickly. He was literally just saying that it was almost like I like her, yet now he's insisting that I must be horribly in love with her. That seems like quite a stretch on his part. The mere idea of me like Mina, the Grimm who tried to kill me, is laughable.

Peter watches them go, nodding in a satisfied fashion. "Alright, pair two is..." He reaches inside the hat, and pulls out two slips, "James and myself! Alright. That'll be...interesting." He chuckles.

"Uh, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" James asks, for once actually seeming frightened, but Peter ignores the question.

"On to our third pair, which is..." Once again, Peter pulls out two more slips, "Alex and Ever!'

The two meet each other's gaze, and Ever giggles a nervous, girly giggle that I haven't ever heard her make before. Oh my goodness, did she seriously fall for Alex? That poor girl. Wait till that chimera has one of his 'mood swings' as he calls them. She's going to be in for a smack in the face after being smitten over him. Peter whispers the song to Ever and Alex, and then the two head off to another room to practice. As they leave, Ever whips out her phone to pull the song up.

"Fantastic! Only two pairs left to make." Peter makes eye contact with the four of us remaining: Brody, Nan, Nix, and myself. I don't really want to be partners with any of them. "And the pairs are..." He reaches in, pulls out two slips, and begins to chuckle, "Nan and Nix, and Brody and Teague."

I glance over in horror at Brody - who's now my partner - and quickly register that his face mirrors mine. However, then I realize just how much misery I can put him through while being partners with him. I grin at him, which actually causes him to take a step back. He tries to look angry at me or intimidating - I can't figure out which - but I can't take him seriously with the make up. Plus, to be honest, he just looks afraid of me.

"Hey! Lovebirds!" Peter gets my attention by saying that, and grins at me. His grin is quickly wiped off when I punch him in the face. He takes a step back, hand to his eye, and says, still grinning, "Alright, I deserved that one."

"That's right you did." I say sourly.

His grin widens. "Anyways, here's your song." Glancing at James and making a shooing motion, he leans in to whisper it to me. "It's..."

* * *

 **Woo! What did you guys think of that chapter? Was it good? Bad? Mediocre? Sorry if it wasn't my best. C: I tried to make it long to make up for my lack of updates, hopefully it helped somewhat! I really enjoyed the chapter. How did you feel about everything that happened? Peter Piper, who is a Truth or Dare : Grimm Edition character (which is a discontinued series because I couldn't find the inspiration to write it sadly, although I might rewrite it later), arrived. Jared is back inside Teague's head, so we'll be getting some lovely comments from him when it's Teague's perspective. Louis kissed Mina (once on the hand and once on the lips). Nix is getting upset about Ever liking Alex. And there's going to be a lip sync competition, and Brody and Teague are partners in it (along with some other interesting partners). What was your favorite part? Least favorite? What could've been better? Who's perspective would you like best? Are there any characters you'd like (or that you'd hate to see *cough* yes Evx Grimorie will be arriving sooner or later *cough*) to see from my stories (or from the series!) arrive to either crash the party or that were late arrivals? Any games or activities you want to see done? Let me know! :D**

 **Make sure to review. I'll try and get another update (either on this story, another story, or another one-shot) out to you guys soon. ^-^ Sorry for the long wait! School has been super rough. Hopefully I won't keep disappearing for such long amounts of times.**

 **Anyways, see you next time!**

 **~ Dagger**


	5. Chapter 5 - Get Your Head In The Game

**Chapter Five - Get Your Head In The Game**

 **Woo! Guess who is back, guys? That's right, it's me, Dagger! :D At the moment, this is the story I'm the most excited to update, so let's hop straight to it. I swear I'm working on Trouble's and Unfairest's updates, as well as a few one-shots, however I wanted to get an update out on this story first as it's one of my favorites.**

 **CoffeeKake : I'm glad it's amazing! Whether Mina will discover she's a siren or not in the lip-sync competition will just have to be seen though. c; As for Louis being a bad guy, well, I guess you'll just have to wait and see. You'll also have to decide what your definition of 'bad guy' is, to determine who - if anyone - is the real bad guy of this story. This one is supposed to be a _bit_ more lighthearted, after all. xD And I'm glad you love the relationship between Mina and Nix! I know I often write them with a tiny bit of romance, however I'm aiming for a more brother and sister relationship this time around, so I'm glad that's the impression I'm making! Although it wouldn't be me if there wasn't always that small possibility of Mix. c; And ooh, that sounds like a fun game! I've never heard of it before, but I'd love to include it at one time or another. It sounds super fun. And don't worry, I will try to get a more satisfying update to Unfairest out soon.**

 **Evx : Oh no oops. Not my precious babies! XD Don't hate on Louis, he's just being a _great_ best friend to Teague. As for Alex and Ever, well...There isn't much I can say there. Ever is oblivious and Alex is taking Nix's responses as challenges to keep doing it and upset him. Although I mean there's more to Alex than what meets the eye, as we will soon discover here. Keep in mind that he's half-chimera, which I believe was stated in chapter two...? Maybe? And aw, but Grimorie will be so much _fun_ when she arrives! :D They're everyone's _favorite_. And aw, poor Piper is always hated. *hugs Piper* It isn't his fault! xD Actually it totally is but still. Don't hate on him. He has an excuse to be a little crazy, which one might figure out if they pay close attention to some of the stuff he says. And I'm glad you like Jared and Teague talking! I haven't done it in _forever_ and I didn't realize how much I missed writing it. It's so much fun. I wouldn't worry too much about Teague getting his girl. He probably will. :p**

 **Beetle : Pfttt I _totally_ enjoy playing with your emotions. xD My favorite part of writing is messing with people's emotions. And aw, don't hate on Peter. He's pretty cool. I can't say much to defend Grimorie though. She's super fun to write, but I hate what I make her do to the other characters. cx And really? That's super cool! I don't hear about Dancing or Edward much, so I wasn't sure if I would include him. That's super awesome to hear that he's one of your favorites though! :o I will definitely consider seeing if he would work in the story anywhere. I'm glad the chapter was brilliant. Sorry I didn't update sooner! And don't worry about it, I love when you guys give me long reviews. They make my day (or sometimes almost get me in trouble in school when I almost laugh out loud while reading them)!**

 **Beetle again : Aw, poor Alex. xD Like I said, there's not much I can really do to defend him, but he's pretty cool. Don't hate on him just yet. And haha, I wouldn't worry too much. We're probably get an over-protective feels-like-a-sister girl stepping up to defend him sooner or later. c; I can't be _that_ cruel to Nix...Or can I?**

 **Life as a Siren : I'm glad you liked this chapter, and that you feel sympathetic to Nix. That is the objective. As for Mina and Teague getting together and if Teague will discover that Mina is a siren, well, that remains to be seen. I'm glad you're curious, and that you're willing to wait patiently! Sorry I took so long to get this update to you guys. Thank you for reading! :D**

 **Meague 3 : I'm glad you really like this story, and sorry not sorry for the cliff hangers. You must wait to know! :P I will definitely try to keep up the great work. And yes, there will _definitely_ be a lot of drama. I mean, it's a _Fae_ party after all! c; And haha, I have to agree. I'm not quite sure if this story is going to be forever, or if it's going to go down in flames.**

 **life as a demigod : Haha, it _is_ Teague though. Would it be an An Unfortunate Fairytale story if he _wasn't_ in denial? cx And don't worry, I am sure there will be more Meague at one point or another. You're welcome! I'm glad you appreciated the longer chapter. I'm also glad you like Jared's teasing! I love writing it. xD And aw, poor Peter. *hugs* The ironic thing is that he might be more hated than the Grimorie, and he didn't even really come into his unfinished (oops) story series till the second book. I'm glad that nothing could make the chapter better! That's what I like to hear. I'm glad you also like Teague's perspective, which I would like to do more, however I will definitely consider throwing a Louis perspective in at one point or another. And aw, I'd love to add you in, but I'd be too concerned about offending anyone or not being able to include everyone to add anyone in. Sorry! :c**

 **Guest 1 : As I told life as a demigod, I will definitely consider throwing a Louis perspective in at some point! I'd enjoy writing from inside of his head. Sorry this update wasn't sooner!**

 **Guest 2 : Sorry, but I already chose the songs for the lip sync competition before I posted the chapter. :c Otherwise I'd definitely consider your songs! Also, I purposefully chose duets, and while I've never heard Will You Marry Me, I do know Lost Boy isn't one. c; Sorry! My apologies as well for this chapter not coming sooner. Hopefully you like it!**

 **Now that I've got to respond to all of you (which I love to do, by the way!), let's see what's in store during this lip-sync competition, shall we? While I'm hoping to compress it into one chapter, I have a feeling it'll take up at least two, but we will have to see!**

 **Also, my apologies, but this chapter did take slightly longer because I lost my list of duets and partners for the later rounds, so while I do vaguely remember them, I had to repick them. :c**

 ** _Also_ also, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time explaining what each lip sync looks like. I want you guys to be able to imagine them in your heads the way you think the two would lip sync to that song. Yes, there will be some explaining, but I want there to be some freedom as well. ^-^ **

* * *

_Mina's Point of View_

* * *

Once Louis follows me into the library, I shut the door almost all the way, so that it's just slightly ajar. Then, I turn, only to find him incredibly close. I nearly bump into him, and squeak out an apology as I try to step back only to trip. Thankfully, he catches me, although the touch of his hands makes my nerves go crazy. How does he do that? Actually, I have an even better question. How do Fae guys manage to do this to me? Jared, Nix at times, Louis, and yes, I suppose even Teague does it to me. For Pete's sake, even Reid managed to do this to me on the awkward-and-unspoken-of-triple-date before he started being a jerk and revealed he was a Stiltskin. It seriously is starting to get on my nerves.

"Uh, thanks." I say, carefully stepping away from him so as not to trip again. With my luck, my cheeks are probably bright red.

"No problem." He grins, and I try to resist the urge to punch him. I must seem like such a dork, seeing as I'm getting so flustered. There's an awkward pause in the conversation, but he breaks it by asking, "So, what's the song we'll be doing?"

"Right. Almost forgot. Silly me." I avoid his gaze, feeling more and more like a dork by the second.

He chuckles in a way that eases my nerves ever so slightly. "It's not a problem."

Fiddling with some of my hair as I try to avoid his gaze, I finally say what it is. "Right. We've been assigned 'And At Last I See The Light' from the movie Tangled, which I have never heard of before now. Do you know it?"

"You don't know the movie Tangled? You uncultured swine!" He looks appalled for a moment.

"Geez, I'm sorry I'm a Grimm, making it so that I'm not into fairy tales or Disney in general." I'm starting to take offense before I realize he's messing with me.

He laughs at my betrayed expression, and says, "Nah, it's fine. I'll play it for you on my phone. Though I'll have to say something to Teabue about that. No one should ever not want to see a Disney movie."

That takes me by surprise. "You have a phone?"

He raises an eyebrow, a skill I generally relate to Teague and that I am still jealous of, as he asks, "Why wouldn't I?"

I shrug. "I dunno. I guess I thought Fae couldn't have those on this plane, so they wouldn't waste their time with them."

"Oh, I can see why you'd think that." He says as he pulls out his phone. If I didn't know any better, I'd say his case has Emma Swan and Captain Hook on it. Is Louis a Oncer? And even better, is he a Captain Swan shipper? "We can't make them on this plane, however we can sometimes get them to work on this plane as we make them specially on yours. Besides, half the time on your plane playing in a band anyways."

That also takes me by surprise, although I guess it makes sense, seeing as he's a siren. Should the type of Fae he is concern me? "You play in a band?"

"Sure." He glances up from scrolling on his phone screen. "Alex and James play in it too. You should come check us out some time."

"Maybe I will." I say, deciding not to make any obligations. Although it would be fun to see him.

"I've almost got the song pulled up." He says, and then asks, "So, you said before that sometimes you try to sing?"

I thought he would forget that statement. My cheeks heat up from embarrassment. "Oh, well, sometimes. I'm not that good."

"I think you're probably downplaying your talents." I open my mouth to argue, but then he announces, "Found it. Alright, here we go."

The song plays, and by the end my mouth is hanging open. "We're lip syncing to that?"

He smirks at me. "According to Peter we are. Got a problem with it, Mina?"

"I-I just don't know if I can learn it that fast." I stammer, but he just laughs.

"Mina, you can most definitely learn it that fast." At that statement, I try - and fail - to raise only one eyebrow.

"And why is that?" Since the eyebrow trick didn't work, I try titling my head instead.

His smirk changes to a genuine grin. "I'm glad you asked." He cautiously walks closer, and for a moment I panic. Then, I decide that I'm just going to trust him. The door is slightly open. If he tries to kill me because I'm a Grimm, I can scream for help. Someone has to be nearby. "You see, I don't think you're a human. At least, not fully."

"Excuse me?" I take a step back, narrowing my eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think that you're at _least_ half Fae. Specifically half siren." The statement alone sounds ridiculous to me.

So, I scoff in response. "Half siren? Please. That's not even possible. In case you have noticed, I'm not popular. Guys don't like me either. Plus I have no music talent."

"I think you'd be surprised." He argues back.

I cross my arms. "I am not a siren."

He hesitates for a moment, and then sighs. "Fine. I'll drop this discussion for now, seeing as we need to focus one earning to lip sync the duet, however don't think for one moment that I'm letting the conversation drop."

"Whatever." I huff, exasperated.

He doesn't respond, except for grinning my direction. I roll my eyes, but I have to admit that I smile a bit back. He's a fun guy. It's not his fault that he made a mistake. I watch him set his phone on a table and push play, and then glances at me.

I have to look away, and the words continue for a moment before Louis turns them off. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I don't think I can do this, Louis." I shake my head, avoiding his gaze. "I'm no good at performing."

"Don't think of it as a performance then." He says in response. "Think of it as something you're actually meaning."

"What?" I cry, eyes shooting up to meet his, only to find that the blue eyes mine meet are filled with mirth. "You're as cocky as Teague."

That gets him to actually laugh. "Don't let him hear that."

The thought of what he might do makes me laugh as well. "This doesn't solve our problem though. I still can't lip sync this song."

"Humor me for a moment and try. Please?" Louis gives me puppy eyes, a trick that I've never seen work for anyone but Nix, Charlie, Nan, and sometimes myself. Yet, it works for him.

"Fine. I'll try." I can't believe I'm admitting defeat, but I just want to agree with him.

There's that little bit of intro music, which gives me those few moments to psyche myself up. And then suddenly the words start, only I'm not just listening to them. We only played the song once - not counting that small snippet he played when I looked away - yet I'm actually matching it.

I stop after a few lines, and the blonde boy pauses it. "I told you you'd surprise yourself."

"I don't understand how I did it." I say back, and he opens his mouth, only for me to cut him off. "And no, it's not because I'm secretly half siren."

"If you say so." I don't continue the argument. He doesn't believe me, I don't believe him. It's apparently as simple as that. "Either way, it benefits us this round, seeing as it's a trick both of us can do." He's slyly hinting at us both being sirens again, isn't he? "So, let's use it. Do you have any ideas for choreography, or...?"

"Nope. No idea whatsoever." He chuckles at my lack of creativity.

"All the better. You just let me lead, and you follow." The way he says it makes me slightly suspicious.

"Will I regret it later?" I ask, once again failing at raising just one eyebrow in question.

"Maybe." He shugs, sticking his tongue out at me.

I take a deep breathe. "Fine, I'll play your game."

* * *

My heart is beating 100 miles per hour when Peter pops his head in, stopping us in the middle of our millionth run through. "Hey, lovebirds, be back where we started in two minutes!" I try to chuck a book at him, but he shuts the door so it misses. "Wow, that's a lot more spunk than you had before." He opens the door again, shaking his head. "For that, you have to be there in one minute."

Except opening the door was his mistake, because a book that Louis threw smacks him in the face.

"For that," He sputters, "you guys have to come now!"

But he's not actually mad. Laughing our heads off, Louis and I pass him and return to the couch room. There, we find James already waiting.

He looks at the both of us, and I swear I hear him mutter, "Louis, Teague is not going to be happy." Except there were a few other words thrown in to that statement that I _think_ were Fae swear words I've heard Ever use before, but only when she's really angry.

Every slowly makes their way in. Nan and Nix are next, giggling up a storm, and Nix announces to me in an extremely pleased fashion that they've got theirs down. I grin at him, because I honestly am glad that are so excited to do theirs. I'm not sure if I'm as excited for ours. Ever and Alex come in next, arm in arm, and I can see Nix's face visibly darken.

Before I can get to him though, Nan does. She throws her arms around him in a hug, and because I'm behind them - unlike Ever and Alex - I can see her whisper something to Nix. The ginger nods, and then my other best friend gives off the most flirty laugh I have ever heard her make. She leans in again, and this time if I hadn't been behind them, I would've sworn she'd kissed him. It's then that I get the plan, because I can see Ever scowling ever so slightly, till Alex catches her attention again. Nan is helping Nix make Ever jealous. A stroke of brilliance, really. I just can only pray it works, because unless Nan and Nix both have a change of heart and fall for each other in which case they would be a brilliant couple, then Nix will be heartbroken.

Before Nan and Nix can do anything else, Brody and Teague arrive, with Peter behind them. Louis leans close to my ear and whispers, "I can't wait to see how their duet goes."

I laugh in response, because Brody looks about as mad as he can get, whereas Teague looks very smug and pleased. I have to agree, I can't wait to see what they have planned either.

"Alright, now that everyone is here, let's begin, shall we?" Peter announces, wasting no time. "Mina and Louis, you'll be going first, with the song 'And At Last I See The Light,' from Tangled."

"Fantastic." I mutter, earning a grin from Louis.

We reach the front of the room, and he whispers, "Don't worry. Just do as we practiced."

And we do it without a hitch. Louis had the wonderful idea of using Fae Magic to get us a boat and two floating lanterns, which apparently they use in that scene in the movie. I still don't really get it, but I agreed to it anyways. Even as we're 'singing' and acting, I can see a strange look in Louis' eye that tells me has something we didn't plan in store. To be honest, I'm frightened.

And, sadly, I am right. Right as we finish and the final notes of the song are playing, Louis leans in and kisses me. My eyes fly open in shock, but as quick as the moment happens it's gone. And that's when I realize it's like I woke up. I look at Louis, and while there's still a part of me that's attracted to him, it's lessened considerably.

He helps me out of the boat and we both bow - you aren't going to get me to do any lady-like curtesy - before sitting back down. Everyone applauds in a sort of stunned fashion, and I catch Teague trying to mentally set us on fire - something I'm sure he could do with his magic if he wanted to - as Peter stands back up.

"Were you using your siren powers on me?" I whisper to Louis.

"Maybe." His cocky grin - which I have no hesitancy in admitting is kinder than Teague's - shines right back. "But I had my reasons."

"You little rat!" I punch him in the arm, but then I drop my head and hunch over when I see that everyone is staring at us.

Before Louis can respond, Peter announces, "Now that they're finished, James and I will be going. Our song happens to be 'Breaking Free' from High School Musical."

And they do less than stellar, though to Peter's credit, it has nothing to do with him. In fact, it has everything to do with James, who just isn't into singing as Gabrielle. Which is a shame, because Peter is doing an excellent job as Troy. I have a feeling that they'll be the group voted out this round. No matter how hard Peter tries, James just won't get into it. By the end, Peter gave up trying to get James to do anything and was a one-man show. It _was_ impressive to see him be both characters at the end of the song though.

Peter bows and receives applause, while James just goes back to his seat. Then, the piper glares at him, before announcing the next group. "Right. After that _stunning_ performance," The sarcasm is overwhelming, "we're having Alex and Ever grace us with their amazing skills while performing 'What I've Been Looking For,' which is also from High School Musical."

While they get up there, I notice Peter and James start to get into a heated argument, although my attention is dragged back to the two performing as they interact. Louis may have kissed me, but Ever and Alex are really close. I can practically see Nix smoking due to how angry he is. By the end, they're practically nose to nose. It almost makes me sick.

They finish, and stand up there looking at each other in a silence that is awkward for all of us before Nan shouts, "Hey, punks, you done making goo goo eyes at each other yet? I'm going to puke if you keep it up."

Ever has the decency to look embarrassed, but Alex looks quite pleased with himself. They both bow and get somewhat weak applause, and Ever hurries back to her seat, whereas the chimera seems to strut back.

Rolling his eyes but actually looking excited at the possibility that another group might get taken out instead of his - although that's only a small chance - Peter calls up the next pair. "Nan and Nix, please come on up and do 'Hakuna Matata' from Lion King for us."

Nan grabs Nix's arm and runs up to the stage with him in tow. As I guessed, Nan takes on the roll of Timon, where as Nix plays Pumba. I can't believe how well they do as they dance around our makeshift stage. By the end, my jaw has dropped to the ground, as has everyone else's. Either they can read each other's mind, or they practiced a whole lot. It's absolutely brilliant.

As the song ends, Nan pulls Nix into a hug. _I_ can see that the hug is purely friendly, but I'm not sure if others can. I sure hope Ever can't. Maybe it'll make her jealous.

This time, they get a standing ovation - except for James and Alex - as they bow and come back to our seats. Peter, looking amazed, stumbles a bit as he says, "And finally, would Brody and Teague," I hadn't even realized they were partners, but the thought nearly makes me cry tears of laughter, "come up so they can do 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' from Lion King?"

Oh gosh, this is _priceless_!

Brody looks extremely begrudging, and I wonder if it's going to be the same position as it was for James and Peter. At first, Timon and Pumba have a few lines, which they do well enough on. As expected, Teague is Timon, and Brody is Pumba for that small snippet. However, once it's past that, they're the characters I expected as well. Teague does Simba's parts, and Brody does Nala's parts.

What's _unexpected_ is the fact that Brody actually tries. Sure, he looks pretty begrudging, but he's still actually doing it. By the end, I see that they actually did decently. Not better than Nan and Nix, but pretty good.

The song finishes, and once we all applaud and they sit down - Brody's eyes meeting mine to ask if he did a decent job - Peter steps back up. "Right, so please raise your hand if you feel that the pair I am stating should be knocked out of the running. Mina and Louis?" Both of us glance around, but no one raises their hand, causing me to breathe a sigh of relief. "Alright. James and myself?"

Every hand goes up slowly except for Peter's, even James'. At least, it looks like everyone's but Peter's, till I notice Nix didn't raise his hand. I have a feeling his vote is probably for Alex and Ever, but he's been outnumbered.

"Right." Peter says sourly. "Well, let's get on to the next set of pairs, shall we?"

And so it continues. For round two, Brody and I are assigned 'What Is This Feeling?' from the musical Wicked. He plays Galinda, and I play Elphaba in it. Teague and Nix are given 'Start of Something New' from High School Musical, where Teague is Troy and Nix is Gabrielle, which he pulls off well. Louis and Ever do A 'Whole New World' from Aladdin, and Nan and Alex do 'All I Ask Of You' from Phantom of the Opera. In the end, Nan and Alex are knocked out, and it gets rather ugly. Alex begins to rage and storms off, leaving Ever to look astonished and Nan to look embarrassed by her partner's bad sportsmanship.

For round three, I get Nix as my partner, and we are given 'Love Will Find A Way' from Lion King Two. It's actually quite fun to do with him. Teague and Ever are given 'Sweet Child' from the Broadway version of The Little Mermaid, a musical I actually have seen, and while Teague plays the eels - yes, both of them - Ever plays Ariel. Finally, Louis and Brody do Bop To The Top, and for once, Brody gets to be the guy. However, maybe that was a bad decision, because Louis and Brody are voted out.

Which leads us to round four. I can either get partnered with Teague or Ever this round, since Nix and I were already partners. Personally? I have my fingers crossed for Ever.

"Alright, guys." Peter says, carefully reaching into his hat. "Are you guys prepared for this final round? Only one of the pairs will come out on top."

"Just cut the theatrics and get on with it." Ever says impatiently, and Teague nods his agreement.

Then, out of nowhere, James speaks up, and I'm horrified to hear what he says. "Well, you don't have to reach into the hat to get the pairs."

"And why not?" Peter says angrily, turning to look at the elf. I guess he's still not over the fact that purple eyes didn't even try.

" _Because_ Teague has been partners with all of them except for one." And with that statement, he points directly at me. "Mina."

Well, crap.

"You're right." Peter says, and smirks a little. "In that case..." He trails off, motioning for Teague to come over, and whispers the song in his ear.

Teague scowls, glances at me, and angrily motions for me to follow him. "Hurry up, Wilhelmina. We haven't got all day."

What the heck is up with him?

* * *

 **Please note that I own none of the songs they sang duet-wise. All credit goes to the original creators!  
**

 **Also, fun fact. Originally, Louis and Mina were going to duet to the song "As Long As You're Mine" from Wicked, however after looking over the lyrics, I decided that even if it wasn't meant to be written in such a way, some of the statements could be taken badly. It - and the musical Wicked - are great, I just decided I didn't want to make that a duet. Sorry guys! :c**

 **Anyways, what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Sorry I didn't focus as much as I could've on the actual duets, however I wasn't sure how to do them, so I felt you could use your imaginations. Plus, I don't want to have a whole ton of chapters just filled with the lip sync competition, seeing as there are a lot more fun games we can do. Anyways, what did you think of Louis' and Mina's argument over whether or not she's a siren? Do you think he'll convince her? What about their practice in general? Do you like the ship of Louis and Mina? :p What do you think about that last kiss that 'woke Mina up?' Do you think there should still be some Louis x Mina, or should that ship sink? What about the anger fit from Alex? We'll - hopefully - be finding out what that's all about later. What do you think of Nan fake flirting with Nix? Should that develop into something? Do you think it'll work to make Ever jealous? And what about Mina and Teague now being partners against Ever and Nix? Who do you think will win?  
**

 **Remember to keep suggesting game ideas, ships I should possibly exlpore (even if only for a snippet of a chapter), and characters (either from the series or from my own stories) that I should bring in! I take all of your reviews into account. They really make my day!**

 **Sorry this chapter wasn't as long as the two before it, but I hope it was still was good. c: I'll try to update this (and my other stories) soon! I know I always say that and then disappear for a while, but this time I will - hopefully - mean it.  
**

 **~ Dagger**


	6. Chapter 6 - In Which My Ex-Fiancée

**Chapter Six - In Which My Ex-Fiancée Explains Why She Kissed My Best Friend (Twice)**

 **Wow. It's me, Dagger, still sticking around despite having updated two stories. :o Normally I do that and then disappear. Oops. XD I'm disappointed to say that I didn't get to write a whole ton of updates while I was on vacation. However, if I can finish all of my homework (which I really should be doing now) I can hopefully finish Trouble's next update and work on updates for my other stories (including Playing Against Fates, woops). There is still hope! cx Anyways, I hope you guys like this update. I'm super excited to give it to you guys. As it turns out, I had a whole lot of homework over the weekend last weekend, so I didn't get to do much working on this. But here's the update now!**

 **LoveBooks4EverFantasy : I'm glad me update made you so happy! I'm sorry that none of us were posting anything new. :c Thankfully it seems like quite a few of us are now! Although retreading old fanfictions can be fun, I can understand why that might be frustrating if you aren't getting to read anything new.**

 **5 is my lucky number : That's understandable. Whether or not I still tease at it is still up for debate though. :p And ah, that's a great song! However, as I believe I mentioned to someone in a response to their review last chapter, I have already picked everyone's songs far ahead of time. So Mina and Teague already have a song, and I think it'll be pretty great. XD I'm glad you will love any song used though!**

 **Evx : That''s what you get for killing my baby Nix. ;-; *cougheventhoughthisupdatecameoutbeforeForeverI'llServeoopscough* I'm glad it was a great chapter though! c; But don't cry. I'm sure everything will be fine this chapter. :p**

 **CoffeeKake : That's great that it was amazing! :D As for the song, don't worry, we'll be finding that out this chapter. I agree, it is hard to see Teague get so embarrassed over a song, however I'm sure part of it has to do with him being mad - even if he won't admit it - about Louis kissing Mina _twice_. I don't know if this chapter was longer, but if it was, then great! This story probably has my longest updates in it. XD And haha, it's fine. c; If there is a ship you end up wanting to have me show later, let me know! I'm glad that I did a fabulous job. You do too! Hopefully I can keep it up.**

 **Guest 1 : Haha, I'm glad you appreciated Louis calling Mina that! cx Definitely use it. And don't worry, we'll find out Mina's and Teague's song this chapter. As for Nix, don't worry, we'll explore what's going on with him more later. This story has mainly focused on Mina and Teague, but I'd like to include more about what's up with the other characters' arguments and such later. And haha, well, I don't follow the facts of like. :p And as much as I love my baby Nix, I'm going to have to have people be cruel to him. Oops. And I love the references throughout your review, by the way!**

 **life as a demigod : I'm glad it was so amazing! Thanks for not blaming me on focusing those. If people really want me to expand upon the duets, I'd be willing to do a one-shot or two on them. However, I wanted to continue with the story. As for whether Mina and Louis will continue the argument, well, they will if Louis has any say in the matter. And aw, poor Louis x Mina. Just kidding. cx We will have to find out as the story continues how Nan and Nix's trick will go, and whether Ever will realize how she feels. We'll find out if Meague wins this round this chapter. And congrats! It is in Teague's perspective. And I'm glad you like Louis. XD He's my favorite OC character besides Grimorie to write. I'll definitely try and get Spotlight continued at some point. As I said before, I want to figure out the direction I would be going with it in first before I continue.**

 **Life as a Siren : I'm glad I didn't disappoint! I'll have to fix that curiousity level to being higher. :p We can't have you having low curiousity! Just kidding. I'm glad youu're willing to wait! :D Hopefully being patient works for you. c;**

 **Meague 3 : I'm super glad I was able to deliver an amazing chapter, and that you loved it! And aw, don't hate Louis! D: (YESSSS Captain Swan is my life. I love them!) I'm very relieved that the story was worth the wait. I'm glad you liked the songs that were performed but not fully explained. If it wouldn't have been so insanely long, I would've thought about explaining them more! And haha, well, we'll have to see whether you think the song is super romantic, but I do hope it was worth making you suffer through waiting! Hopefully this chapter was still good. I hope you could actually wait! :D**

 **Woah, enough of my rambling. I know I've already gone on for far too long as it is. xD Let's get to the drama already, right?**

* * *

 _Teague's POV_

I walk into the library, grumbling about how stupid Peter Piper is as I do. Of course he did a song that is romantic. I should've expected that, but did he really have to make sure Mina and I ended up having to do one together? I mean, sure, the drawing names out of a hat _looked_ random on his part, but I wouldn't be surprised if he rigged who the pairs would be every single time. He never did show us the names on the slips, after all.

"Teague!" Mina exclaims from behind me, running in. When I look back at her, she's scowling, but her eyes quickly grow wide and terrified when I scowl back. She stops, hesitating for a moment, before her hands ball up into fists and she says, "What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with me?" I scowl even harder. "I could ask you the same thing!"

Her jaw drops. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You must really be desperate for a guy. Holding hands with Nix, going to dances with Brody and just flirting with him in general, and kissing Louis. Twice." I stare at her as her face lights up with anger. "Honestly, I get that you want to replace Jared, but-"

 _Teague, no, you're going too far!_ Jared's warning comes a little too late.

Mina pulls her hand back before slapping me across the face, and I'm so unprepared for it that she actually manages to do it. "You jerk! I'm not in love with Nix. He is in love with someone else. And Brody? Don't get me started on Brody. He's nice, sure," I beg to differ, "but he's extremely overprotective, No one knows how I feel about Brody. _I_ don't even know how I feel about Brody. I definitely don't feel strongly compelled to date him though. I can tell you that much. So don't you dare even suggest that I am trying to replace Jared. I _loved_ him, Teague. No one can ever change that. Thank you _so_ much for reminding me that I will never see him again because of a mistake _you_ tricked me into making."

I gape as she takes quick, short breathes in an attempt to calm down as Jared speaks up in my head. _That's why I love her. However, she has to move on. Her clinging to her feelings for me isn't healthy if I never actually existed._

Instead of confronting her on her Jared comments - although it's not really confronting her, is it? - I say in a still angry voice, "Well, that doesn't answer the part about Louis, now does it?"

For a moment, she looks like she's going to explode on me. I'm afraid she's going to yell, and maybe even try and slap me again. At least this time I'd be prepared for it, so I could grab her wrist and stop her. Instead, she surprises me. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and then bursts out laughing.

I stare at her, becoming more confused than angry. "What's so funny?" No, on second thought, I actually am mad. Is the Grimm daring to laugh at me? I'm the Dark Prince!

 _You grossly underestimate Mina Grimm every single time you talk to her. No, scratch that, you grossly underestimate her every time you even see her._ Jared laughs along with her in my head, and I wish I could punch him somehow. I can image his smug look before I wipe it off even now.

"I'm sorry," Mina gasps for breathe, wiping joyful tears from her eyes, "this is just priceless."

"Answer my question already!" I demand, folding my arms.

She giggles a little as she says, "Well, he is rather handsome. Not to mention he's nice, _very_ talented, has a truly charming smirk-" She breaks out into even louder laughter, doubling over as I scowl. "Oh gosh, I can't keep it up. I'm _not_ in love with Louis."

"Then why did you kiss him?" My question is still not being answered!

"Well I wasn't _intending_ to kiss him. In case you don't remember, he was dared to during the game you suggested. And the second time, it was to stop his siren powers from making me more attracted to him than I actually was, because I'll admit that he's a bit attractive. Enough to be a little distracting. However, I have a guess as to why he did it, based on your reactions." She smirks a little. "Were you jealous?"

Now I gape at her. "Me? Jealous? Of Louis? Over you? That's ridiculous."

She takes a moment to think, and as if realizing what that would suggest, gasps. "Um, ya. Completely ridiculous. I don't even know why I suggested it." Stepping a fair difference away from me, she asks, "Now that we've wasted so much of our time arguing about that, can you please tell me what song we have to lip sync to?"

 _Oh yes, what song are you getting to do with Mina, Teague?_ I can imagine the grin he'd wear if he was actually saying it, which makes me realize I can't wait to have Jared find out what song it is.

"Love is an Open Door, from Frozen." I smirk at the song now, trying not to give away that I originally didn't want to do it because I wouldn't be able to get reactions out of Mina, and as Jared begins to piece the pieces together I smirk a little wider.

Mina bites her lip. "Um, I'm guessing I won't enjoy doing that song with you based on the title, but I can't say I've ever heard it."

That actually horrifies me. "What? Why would you never have heard of it?"

She folds her arms and glares at me. "I've never seen Frozen. I don't like Disney stories. They alert me to too many of the quests you might give me later. You know, since I'm the current Grimm?"

Oh. That actually makes me feel kind of guilty, although I don't intend on admitting that to anyone. I mean, everyone should be able to watch Disney movies. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to lighten up on the curse when this is over. Which does make me wonder, what would a Frozen quest look like if I made Mina go through it? That could be fun.

 _Jeez, could you stop thinking about how you are going to curse Mina after the party you are forcing her to come to?_ Lovely. I was wondering where Jared had gone. _Just focus on your lip sync song._

I sigh. "Well, we'll play it a few times, and then-"

Mina grins. "You'll only have to play it for me once, so long as you know it."

I shake my head and laugh. "There's no way that would work."

Her grin widens. "You'd be surprised. Louis discovered a secret talent of mine for me, although I can't tell you how I got it." I frown a little when she mentions Louis helped her find it - because he might be giving her tips to fight the curse, not for any other reason - but she doesn't seem to notice. "Just play the song and I'll demonstrate."

"You aren't going to tell me what it is?" I cross my arms.

She bobs her head, looking quite pleased with herself. In fact, she looks a bit adorable.

 _What was that, Teague?_

Nothing. Mina? Adorable? No way.

"Nope." She pops the 'p' as she continues to gloat about knowing something I don't. "You don't believe me, so I want to demonstrate it for a maximum amount of surprise on your part."

I roll my eyes. "Fine. Whatever."

Then, I pull out my phone, and Mina actually gasps out loud. "You have a phone too? Why the heck do all of you Fae have phones? I don't even have a phone!"

Despite my attempt to be angry with her, I chuckle. "Because I'm better than you, my dear Mina."

"Whatever." She scowls. However, after processing the last line, her face goes pink - and here I was worried that I lost my touch - as she exclaims, "I'm not your anything!"

"You are my fiancée." I point out, much to her disgust.

So, she makes a very big deal in correcting me. " _Ex_ -fiancée, Teague." I open my mouth to continue the argument purely because it seems to embarrass her and I want to get back at her for teasing me previously, so she adds, "Just play the song already."

Having already opened to the music app and to the song, I push play, and so it does. As the song plays, she makes several brilliant facial expressions in reaction. It's fantastic. I love it.

As the song finishes, I say, "So, do you need me to play it again?"

"Nope." She grins again, blush gone for so long as I allow it to have disappeared. "If I wanted to, I could sing the entire song to you right now."

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow, and she rolls her eyes.

"Oh just trust me for once, Teague." Which I have a great counter argument for.

"Sorry, my parents told me not to trust people who have tried to assassinate me." I respond.

And, for some reason, that seems to make her mad. "Why the heck can't you listen to me, jerk? I wasn't going to assassinate you!"

"Uh huh. Whatever." I roll my eyes back. "So you know the song so well, hm?"

"Yup." She steps closer, looking up at me and jabbing a finger into my chest. "Do you?"

"Yes." I respond, actually feeling insulted by her lack of faith. Then again, I guess I kind of deserve it, but I'm _me_.

She shrugs. "Whatever. I don't even care. I just want to be done being partners with you."

I smirk. "Aw, and here I was thinking we were getting along."

Her eyes narrow. "I was thinking that too, till we got here." That comment wipes the smirk right off my face.

 _Ooh, burn._ Why doesn't he ever shut up?

Trying my best not to get super angry and scary so that I don't break my promise, I grab my phone so that I can use it to distract myself. I flip it over a few times in my hand before I say anything. Then, I make eye contact with her, and find a face that seems extremely bored with the conversation. Geez, I've really messed up, haven't I? What happened? And how the heck do I fix it? Normally I'm so in control, but once, I feel very off.

So of course Jared decides to respond. _Maybe you should try being nicer._ Nicer? I'm the Dark Prince. I don't do nice. However, maybe I should try, if it means getting the opportunity to get reactions out of Mina back.

"Okay." I take a deep breath. "Do you have any ideas for what we could do while we lip sync to the song?"

"Nope. In case you haven't noticed from each of my performances so far, I am not a dancer. At all." She definitely has no faith in herself, does she?

I shake my head. "You're underestimating yourself, because you can dance. I would know, seeing as I've danced with you before."

"Ah yes, right before you killed Mei." Her scowl suggests that perhaps that wasn't the best time to reference.

Sighing dramatically and in a rather frustrated fashion, I say, "I'm trying to compliment you. It's a rare occurrence. I suggest that you take it."

She slams her fist off the table. "I don't need your compliments!" She opens her mouth as if to say more, before shutting it and leaning back against the bookshelf. What the heck was she about to tell me? My curiosity has been peeked.

However, I let it go for now, because I'm rather angry. Instead, I run my fingers through my hair before saying, "I'm sorry I was trying to be nice to you for once!"

"I don't want you to be nice to me! I want to hate you!" She tears her gaze away from me, and I blink.

"You want to hate me?" I ask, eyes wide and anger suddenly gone. That makes it sound like she doesn't, which isn't okay. She has to hate me, and I have to hate her. It's as simple as that. If she doesn't hate me, I can't get reactions from her.

"You wouldn't understand anything. Let's just focus on this lip sync competition so that we can move on to some other game." She growls the words.

I sigh, not wanting to move on from the 'wanting to hate me' comment but realizing I have to in order to get the answer later. "Alright, well-"

But of course, to make things so much better, Peter pops in. "Time's up! Let's go on back to the main room!"

Mina meets my gaze, the concerned question about how we didn't even practice in her gaze. My answer? "Just follow me."

* * *

 **Woo, ending stories with other story references! A great idea, right? :D Actually, that last line was completely unintentional, but I made the connection and decided to just roll with it. xD Anyways, what did you guys think of this chapter? Was it good? Bad? I'm worried that it was a little out of character or clunky. Please let me know if it was, so I can know to work on that for next chapter! What do you guys think of the song Mina and Teague have to lip sync to? What about the fact that Teague is going to be making up the choreography as they go, and Mina is left to just follow him? Did you like Jared's small commentary? I'll try to add more of that in later Teague perspective chapters. How about Mina saying she wants to hate Teague as if she's struggling to do so? What do you think about Teague, who sounds a bit jealous in his head? And what about Teague confronting Mina about his thoughts on how she is trying to replace Jared with another guy, which is why she seems - at least to Teague - to be flirting with all these different guys? Do you agree with Teague there? Or do you believe Mina, and agree that she is _not_ trying to replace Jared? Do you think their partnership is going to hamper any romance, or help it? Please give me any opinions you have! :D**

 **Hopefully next chapter I will be including a perspective from a different character than just Mina or Teague along with some stuff in their perspective. I would like to have some other plots occurring besides their dramatic feelings that they try to hide. xD**

 **Anyways, please suggest any characters (two characters, one who was requested and one who I know you guys all LOVE so much, will be joining the party at some point, but that won't be for a few more chapters at least), ships (even if you just want me to show like a kiss or something to see reactions to it between the characters), or games (I'm going to be including the "first one to blush when the other person says 'I love you' loses" if you've ever heard of that one, so long as I get an opportunity) if you are interested in seeing any! I'm super excited to try and include any suggestions you guys might have, and will try to include as many of them as possible! c:**

 ** _Anyways_ anyways, thanks for reading this chapter! I'll try and update my other stories (and get the next chapter of Playing Against Fates to the amazing Evx) soon! :D Sorry these updates took so long to get to you guys! Thanks for being so patient for my updates. c: You guys are amazing. c; Also, sorry for this chapter being shorter than I normally aim for for this story. However, I felt that this was a good place to stop at, so I'm going to keep it that way.  
**

 **~ Dagger**


	7. Chapter 7 - Love Is An Open Door

**Chapter Seven - Love Is An Open Door**

 **Heyyyyy, I'm back! And suffering like a ton.** **cx I'm sick, which really isn't a pleasant experience. :c However, it does give me the opportunity to sit down and update some of my stories on here, which is good! xD I'm hoping to get at least one update for all of my stories over this Christmas break (hopefully more), although we'll have to see how that goes. Three down, only what, one or two to go? I guess it depends on whether or not you count J Is For. :p Anyways, it honestly is going to depend on my inspiration levels, which are incredibly unpredictable, and if I can make my brain _stop_ giving me ideas for other stories that I don't have up on here. These moments of inspiration always happen at the most inconvenient times! ;-;  
**

 **5 is my lucky number : I know! I want to know what's going to happen too! :o (which basically translates to "I still don't know what direction I'm taking this story in yet oops")**

 **life as a demigod : I'm glad that it was a lovely chapter, and that you think I outdid myself! I was actually rather worried about that chapter, so I'm glad you liked it. ^-^ And haha, it got stuck in my head too! And woah, I don't think I've ever heard that before. That's super cool! I'm super glad that you liked him as a character, and that you liked Just Follow Me! And I'm glad you enjoy having a bit of Jared. Jared in Teague's head is pretty much my favorite Jared to write. cx That's good that it was super obvious! I was trying to make it at least somewhat obvious, but ya, he doesn't seem to realize it just yet (or he's just in deniallll). And that is a good guess on why she's doing what she's doing! Whether or not you are right will just have to remain to be seen, although I agree, I think this should help their love. And that's funny you should mention them both! I'm actually working out how both are going to come into the story already. :D So I'll definitely include them! And ooh, that sounds like fun. Teehee! I will definitely have to include that.**

 **CoffeeKake : (You know, for some reason I always type your name CoffeeKaka the first time I type it, and I don't know why cx) I'm super glad you feel that way! As I mentioned when responding to life as a demigod, I was worried that it wouldn't be great. And woah, I wouldn't go so far as to say THAT! xD haha, but seriously, I'm glad you liked it so much! I'm glad you liked the reference and that you loved that story! And again, as I mentioned to life as a demigod, I've been trying to figure out how to include those two! So I'll definitely include them if you guys like them. I'm definitely pumped to write The Grimorie more thanks to my other writing project. And Edward too! I haven't written anything with him in _ages_. I'll probably have to reread Dancing in order to make sure I write him well.**

 **Evx : I agree, she can't hate him. However, she _wants_ to, but I'm sure we'll fix that. c; I'm glad you think it was a cute song choice! I can't wait to see how it turns out either. xD Noooo Nixxxxx. I definitely understand why you did it. I agree with you on the fact that it needed to happen, but stilllll. My baby Nix. :c Love you too! c; **

**Meague 3 : xD Haha, I agree! Don't worry though, we have time for that to happen. It's great to hear that you liked the chapter! Ooh, that sounds like a fun one to do, although I might save that one till I can bring in a _few_ more characters, just to balance it out a little and get some super fun reactions. Sorry this update took so long!**

 **Woo, let's go! Time to see how Mina and Teague do with their lip sync song, and see what other drama will be stirred up! :p  
**

 **Also, just going to throw out there that I don't own**

* * *

 _Mina's Point of View_

* * *

When I stalk back into the main room, I'm still mad as heck at Teague. Seriously, what the crap was he thinking, saying the trash that he did? I wish I could kill him. He's such a jerk. Instead of getting to punish him for what he did though, I have to do a lip sync duet with him. Seriously, out of everyone I could've gotten paired with, I had to get him? It's completely unfair. Peter-Jerk-Piper most definitely rigged it.

I seat myself in between Nan and Alex in hopes of getting as far away from Teague as possible. Is it an option to forfeit? Probably not. I wish it was though. From beside Alex, Louis offers me a concerned look, and I can see the question in his eyes as to why I'm so angry. However, I just shake my head in response. I don't want to talk about it right now, especially since part of why Teague started spouting those lies about me was because Louis kissed me. Besides, Teague is in the room.

Alex seems to be over his brief moment of anger, and says, "You're looking fabulous."

"Um, thanks?" I look at him, a little concerned, and out of the corner of my eye I see Nan subtly shake her head.

"Of course. Anything for a pretty lady." He winks, and I roll my eyes, turning to look at my best friend. Nan looks less than amused by his antics, yet Alex leans forward to say, "And you're looking quite pretty yourself, Nan."

"His mood swing is so weird." She comments to me at a whisper, glancing nervously at the half-chimera over my shoulder. "He went from seeming normal to being irrationally angry to being awkwardly flirty."

I glance back at him, and he offers me a grin before I turn to look back at Nan. I wear a frown that matches hers. "No kidding."

"So, why did you look like you were ready to burn the castle down when you walked in?" She folds her hands into her lap as she asks, but I shake my head.

"It's not important." She opens her mouth to argue, so I decide to insist. "Honestly, I'm just really frustrated and my nerves are going haywire while we're here, what with the Grimm curse and all."

Nan nods knowingly, as if she totally gets it. "Oh, that makes sense. Well, don't worry. I'm here." At least she buys it. I doubt I'll convince Louis as easily when he asks me about it later.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Teague has decided to lean against the wall, and he still seems just as mad. It is possible that I'm imagining it, but I want to have even more reasons to be mad at him, so I decide that I'm not. He doesn't even have a reason to be upset! He was the one telling lies, not me. I wish this party was over already, or that I hadn't agreed to coming to it. Going through a quest would be easier than this.

Well, maybe not easier, but it's starting to feel like that's the case.

The door opens, and in walks Peter Piper, followed by Ever and Nix. Ever looks rather embarrassed, whereas Nix looks like he's emotionally exhausted. What the heck happened with them? Obviously this lip sync competition hasn't been strengthening any relationships.

"Nix and Ever can go first." Teague speaks before Peter even has the chance to choose.

"Oh, okay." The poor guy actually looks rather taken aback by the statement, but Teague doesn't seem to care. "Ever and Nix, please come up here and perform 'I Gotta Go My Own Way' for everyone."

Nix walks up on stage more confident than I expected, and Ever takes a moment in her seat to take a deep breath before following him. Never in my life did I expect to see Nix more confident than Ever. Who would've guessed? I'm sure Nix is only appearing to be confident though, when I think about the song. Maybe I lied in saying I haven't seen any Disney movies, because Nix _did_ show me High School Musical 1 and 2 where I was a firm shipper of Gabriella and Ryan, but that barely counts. Either way, it doesn't matter, because I'm betting Ever is singing Gabriella's part and Nix is singing Troy's. That does not seem to be in the direction that Nix is going to want to go in.

Then the music starts, and I'm shocked. Gabriella's voice starts singing, but it's not Ever moving her lips to the words. It's _Nix_ , and he gets quite into character with it. There is - and while I might be imagining it, I don't think I am - a bit of real hurt mixed in with Ever's feigned expression of pain as she let's Nix move around the stage. He's extremely expressive, but it doesn't look like he's doing too much. Whenever Ever finally jumps in with actual lines to sing, Nix plays off her in a natural fashion. I would've expected him to be Troy, if not for the fact that he's a boy, then for the fact that he can't say no to Ever. However, he does several times, and they do it well. At the last few lines, Nix heads off the stage, with an astonished - and perhaps not entirely faking, although maybe I'm getting my hopes up - Ever watching him.

The song ends, and both of the two take bows as we all applaud wildly. Ever makes her way over to Nix, but he runs over to Nan, pulling her into a hug and practically swinging her through the air. Nan is actually caught by surprise, but she quickly smiles and laughs along with it. Right, their whole 'make Ever jealous' plan. The pixie freezes in her tracks, looking genuinely surprised. Normally Nix would've gone to her to talk. Instead, he went to Nan. Maybe she's jealous? Oh gosh, I hope she's jealous. She turns to look at me, eyes wide, but I feign a look of innocence as to what she could possibly mean.

Hey, it's her fault Nix decided to try and make her jealous. If she wanted him to continue to dote on her openly, she should've reciprocated the feelings. There is a large part of me that wishes Nan and Nix were actually in love with each other. They'd be such a cute couple, and Nan seems like she'd appreciate Nix much more than Ever has.

"Alright, alright!" James waves his hands to regain order, and then gestures to Peter. "Please turn your attention back to our host."

Peter glares at James, as if trying to check for some sort of hidden meaning, but James just grins. It didn't seem like there was any secret statement there, but it is possible that I missed something. "Thanks, James." He doesn't sound very thankful, but I guess it's the fact that he said it that counts? I doubt that the piper actually means it. "Anyways, Teague and Mina, it is now your turn. If you could go onto the stage and perform 'Love Is An Open Door' for us as you practiced, please?"

I almost want to say no, just because Teague and I didn't actually ever _practice_ our song. We just listened and argued, since the Dark Prince is a major jerk. However, I keep my mouth shut. I really don't want to do that, although maybe getting disqualified would be better than having to trust Teague with however he's going to lead us. Especially since we have to do 'Love Is An Open Door,' which isn't going to be fun or pleasant to endure the taunts about after. The fact that I did a love song already in which I kissed Louis - is going to mean the teasing is already going to be existent, but three, since I also did one with Nix? Man, I'm doomed.

I make my way up to the front, and see that Teague is already there waiting. He immediately takes my hands, and whispers so that - hopefully - no one can hear him, "Remember, just follow my lead. Ready?"

I don't really get a chance to respond - not that I want to - because the music starts, and I have the first line. I look away, trying to pretend to be embarrassed, and then follow along with the song. "Okay, can I just say something crazy?"

At the end of the line, I look back at Teague, whose face is awfully close. "I love crazy."

So far, his 'follow his lead' idea isn't working too well. I pull my hands away, turning away and moving to try and go with the song. "All my life has been a series of doors in my face." Then I spin around to look back at him. "And then suddenly I bump into you."

"I was thinking the same!" He moves closer.

And so it continues, with Teague actually being able to take the lead. It's almost like a game of 'Cat and Mouse' around the stage, with me moving away and him moving forward. It seems like he's constant fining ways to touch me, whether tapping my nose, holding my hand or hands, putting a hand around my waist, or even picking me up and spinning me the one time. I'm surprised I don't give us away with not having planned any of it, and I'm not sure whether I want people to know we didn't plan this or not. On the one hand, it probably will seem awkward that we didn't plan anything and I just let this happen without reacting, but on the other hand, it's really weird that I would agree to this ahead of time, right? I sure hope so.

We're coming to the end, and he's just released me from being his dance partner. I know how the song ends, but it still doesn't stop me from being terrified - and a part of my heart starting to beat at the speed of light due to the memories - when he gets down on one knee to lip sync, "Can I say something crazy?" I force myself to look like a giggle, since Anna does, as he then _pulls a stinking box_ out of his pocket and pops it open to reveal a ring as he asks, "Will you marry me?"

Oh gosh, I have to actually do what Anna does and say yes. I really don't want to, but I force myself to smile and do my part. I won't spoil our attempt to do this song anymore than I already have, with me being me. "Can I say something even crazier? Yes!"

He slips the ring onto my finger as the music ends, and flashes me the most devious smirk I have ever seen. I hope with every fiber of my being that my embarrassment and horror isn't written all over my face, because all I can think about is the fact that we've done this before. It didn't go this way - if only it had, not that it would've been any better as that means I would have to marry Teague - but it still did happen.

For a moment, there's stunned silence. Then, there's applause that matches Ever's and Nix's in enthusiasm. As it occurs, I take the ring off and chuck it back in Teague's face. He flinches when it hits him, and looks at me just as shocked as our friends initially were with the end of our performance. I stalk off the stage, going off to hide, but Peter grabs my wrist. I let out a squeak, going to swat him to make him let go, but he holds out his other hand in a sort of 'calm down' fashion.

"Stay up here. We need to vote between your performance and Nix's and Ever's, to decide who won." As he speaks, he motions Nix and Ever up.

Nix and Ever come up and stand on his left, and Teague joins me on the right before the stupid musician lets me go. I stare at the ground, avoiding everyone's face. Oh gosh, this is so embarrassing. Why the heck did I have to get partnered with Teague, out of all people? And why did we have to do good? We seem to have been that way, since we got a decent amount of applause.

"Alright, so let's have a vote. Please applaud for whichever group you think did best whenever I call them. Ever and Nix!" Peter raises his left hand to gesture to the two.

I look at Teague, who raises an eyebrow at my disgusted face that I throw at him. Then I applaud along with Ever, Nix, and Brody. I suppose Brody was expected to not vote for Teague and me. He would never want me to do anything with the Story. I don't see why I thought that being around the Dark Prince was a good idea. I have to hate him, although I suppose this is helping.

"Great. Now, who votes for Mina and Teague as being the best?" Peter doesn't even raise his right hand this time. He just applauds alongside everyone else who didn't previously vote - so Teague, Nan, Alex, Louis, and James - for Ever and Nix.

The applause is only slightly louder for us, but it's enough to declare us the winners. I, however, don't feel like we won. I feel like I've lost something incredibly important, but I can't figure out what. There's no doubt in my mind that I'll remember it later, at a crucial moment when I need it.

I don't have time to dwell on the feeling any longer, because Teague hoists me into the air - much like Nix did to Nan earlier - and grins. "We won. Why the long face?"

"Set me down this minute!" I kick my legs in protest, but they don't seem to do much.

"Come on now, Teague, she asked you to put her down. I suggest that you do it." Brody speaks up, but I can tell that Nix and Ever both seemed prepared to go. Nan, on the other hand, looks ready to fight someone instead. No, she cannot fight Teague. I refuse to allow that. Sadly, he'd cream her. There's no question about that, even if he was going easy on her. He'd have to be really trying to lose.

"Calm down, I was just doing that." Carefully, he sets me down, and I move about as far as I can get from him. "Don't worry, Brody, I can be just as much of a gentleman as you."

That gets a snort out of practically everyone, and James makes the actual statement of, "Maybe Brody is a gentleman, and maybe he isn't, but you most certainly can never be a gentleman."

"Excuse me?" I can't tell whether Teague is actually offended or not.

"It does not matter," Nan steps forward, "because us girls need some girl time. We're going to go find a room to hang out in, alright? You boys have fun. We'll take like an hour, and then we can eat."

I snicker. "Nan will be starving by then, so get a lot of food."

Which, of course, riles my best friend - best girl friend that is, but I won't tell her Nix might rank slightly higher as an overall best friend - up, and she fakes a look of hurt. "Oh be quiet, Wilhelmina Grimm! You can be just as much of a pig!"

"Cannot!" I shoot back, crossing my arms.

"Come _on_." Ever seems to have regained her tongue as she grabs us both by the arms and begins to tow us out. "I have the perfect room that we can hang out in."

* * *

 _James' Point of View_

* * *

"Well, this puts us at quite the dilemma boys, doesn't it?" I say, moving to sit on a table. "What are we going to do now?"

Peter shrugs. "We could do another round of lip syncs, with just us guys."

"I think we've got enough of those already." Alex states, which seems to be the general opinion of all of us. Including me. "Let's just try to spy on the girls."

"Come on, Alex, they'll be expecting that." I wasn't expecting the nixie to be the one to point it out, but I'll take it. Alex can rage at Nix instead of me, as I'm sure I would've said it if he hadn't. "We can be smarter than that."

"We could come up with a game that we play on our own." Brody's suggestion is probably the best, but I honestly wasn't looking for suggestions, as Louis and Teague seem to have noticed due to their silence and slight smirks. Although I do note that Teague's smirk seems to be slightly more toned down than expected.

"I guess we could do one of those ridiculous ideas..." I lean back with a dramatic sigh. What can I say? It's my style. I'm all for the theatrics here, since I have the attention for once. It's time to get into my element on what we can do. "I don't know, I just was thinking that we should do something more exciting."

Louis finally has enough - before I can even continue to talk, sadly - and says with a dramatic sigh that could almost match mine, "Seeing as you obviously have an idea, can you spare us all the theatrics and skip to the part where you tell us your idea?"

I roll my eyes. "If you insist that we do it that way, then fine."

"We do insist." Nix adds, and I cast a glance at him to see him grin at me. Cheeky little punk.

"Alright," I pause for effect, only moving on when Louis and Brody glare at me, "how about we up the fun here a bit with some friendly - and maybe not so friendly - pranking."

"Pranking?" Peter raises an eyebrow. "You mean, plotting out stuff to do later to the girls?"

I shrug. "Sure, if you like that sort of thing, _or_ we can get a head start and place some stuff now. I mean, we do have _magic_ , Peter. It's not like we have to find the materials, for the most part."

Teague grins a little. "Any specific pranks in mind?"

"I thought you'd never ask." I smirk, drumming my fingers together in the typical evil fashion. "We're going to be needing some supplies for this, if someone could make them. Glitter, string, boxes, ingredients to make pound cake, tinted butter frosting, onions, caramel, popsicle sticks, vanill yogurt, glue, coins, mistletoe-"

Teague takes on the duty of making large amounts of the stuff appear as I list them off, but he stops along with me when Nix interrupts to ask, "Mistletoe? Why mistletoe?"

"Because, Nix, when a girl and a guy walk under the mistletoe together, they have to kiss." Alex's tone definitely suggests that Nix should've known that detail already, and while maybe he should've, that doesn't stop the nixie from glaring at her.

Honestly, are those two ever going to get along? If I were going to guess, I'd probably say no. Why do they dislike each other so much anyways? They've never met before, at least to my knowledge. Not that I'm complaining, of course, because I love a good bit of annoyance and chaos. However, I have a feeling this "Nix and Alex hate each other" thing is going to get old sooner rather than later.

"You expect them to believe we just _happened_ to decide and put mistletoe up whenever they went off to be by themselves?" Brody raises both of his eyebrows, and I notice Teague smirk a bit at the action, probably because of his 'superior talent' of raising one eyebrow at a time. "You must be an idiot if you think they will fall for that for even a second."

"Well, we aren't going to just call attention to the mistletoe, idiot." I say, rolling my eyes. "And I honestly don't expect them to buy it, for your information." That wipes the rather proud smile he'd been developing off of his face. However, I feel no guilt for doing so, as it's his fault that he got the idea that he could possibly be smarte than a Fae whenever he's just a pathetic human. I have no problem putting him in his place, which is most definitely beneath me. "But we'll tell them it's a new Fae party tradition all the same."

That seems to amuse Louis, seeing as the blonde siren snorts from his spot. "A new _tradition_ , James? I think you mean a new _trend_."

Peter, on the other hand, looks lost. "But it's not a Fae party trend, is it?"

"Oh, it's not, and we know that. Besides, no one is suggesting that the girls won't be able to figure out that we're lying." Teague handles the question this time, seeming to be on the same track I am. Perhaps the fact that we can think so in sync is part of the reason why I enjoy pestering him so much. He has the most satisfying reactions out of our entire gang.. "That doesn't mean we can't say it's the case all the same."

"Care to organize us into groups to handle the tasks, Alex?" Louis asks, pointing to the half chimera as he asks.

Oh, this should be fun. Based on Alex's current mood - which I guess could change within the next few moments, but I highly doubt it - I have a feeling it's going to be less 'these two make sense to pair together' and more 'these two will not get along so they should be forced to interact for even longer.'

"Don't mind if I do." Alex grins his specific grin that confirms my previous guess on how the groups will go. "James, list off the duties, and I'll assign people to it."

I point to the mistletoe first. "Mistletoe hanging. Whoever gets this, it would be preferable if you hang it in spots that will lead for some interesting interactions."

"Hm, Brody's a human, so he should have some decent ideas on where potentially good places for mistletoe would be, so he can be one." Alex pauses, as if thinking, but I have a feeling he already knows who else he'll assign to that project. "And, seeing as this is his home, he has magic, and he can quite devious, I suppose Teague makes the best partner for him."

How did I know that they would get paired together?

"Are we ever _not_ going to be partners?" Brody grumbles as Teague picks up the piles of mistletoe, and then the complaining blonde follows him out the door to start. Brody's comment alone probably would've let Alex know that he made the right choice, if he was hoping for annoying partnerships.

I then point to the glitter, string, and boxes in succession. "These will be used for a nice 'you open the door and glitter falls on you' trick. If whoever takes this can do as many doors as possible, and somehow manage to make them invisible, then that would be fantastic."

Nix actually looks a little excited. "Oh, I've done something like that before."

Alex's face suggests that perhaps that wasn't the best thing for the redhead to say, because the half-chimera decides who will take that job next. "What a coincidence! I have too. Since we both have experience, I guess we'll have to be partners to put these up. If you could gather up all the supplies while I assign the other partners...?"

You can practically see the excitement drain out of Nix's eyes, and I have to work hard to keep a straight face so that I don't laugh at the poor guy. "Alright, so the food is so that we can make some false food. For example, the pound cake and tinted butter frosting can be used to make fake grilled cheese sandwiches-"

"Oh, I've done that before." Louis interrupts, and I give him a questioning and surprised look, to which he responds, "Oh, come on. You out of everyone should not be surprised to hear that from me, James."

"Alright, that's fair, I guess." I shrug. "It's not really my business either way. Whoever makes the fake grilled cheese will also make caramel apples with onions instead of apples, and they can use the vanilla yogurt and peaches to make eggs."

"Since Louis has experience with part of that and Peter is clueless," Peter doesn't seem to appreciate that comment, "they can take that one." Alex gestures to the supplies after he finishes the sentence, and the piper begins to help his partner gather the stuff up. They probably have the most to carry. "Make sure to have them ready whenever the girls are done, so that we can offer the food to them."

I look around as those two leave, and upon realizing that I'm the last one left which means I have no one to be my partner, grin widely at Alex. "And I guess that means I'll be taking the glue and coins. It's time to let some people think they've found some dropped change."

"Well, let's get going." Nix doesn't look super pleased to hear his partner say the words, and looks even more disappointed whenever his partner forces him to continue to hold all the supplies as they leave.

Instead of just leaving right away with the supplies, I stick around to think about my options of where to start putting coins. Teaggue's going to have a fun time finding them all when this party is over, especially if I Fae proof the glue so that he has to pull them all up by hand.

* * *

 **So, what did you guys think of this chapter? Was it good? Was it bad? What do you think of Alex's mood swings that he's going through? Does it seem very different, or no? Do you think Mina's going to be left alone about how angry she was when she first walked into the room for the final lip sync competition round, or is she going to get asked about it? If you think it'll come back up, who do you think will ask? What did you think of Ever and Nix's performances of 'Gotta Go My Own Way?' I know I didn't describe very much of it, but were you expecting them to do a song like that? Were you expecting Ever to be Troy and Nix to be Gabriella? Do you think Nix and Nan's plan to make Ever jealous is working? Or do you think it is backfiring? Should it work? What did you think of Mina and Teague's performance of 'Love Is An Open Door?' Do you think Ever and Nix should have won, or did Mina and Teague deserve to do that? What do you think the girls are going off to do?**

 **Should I have a part of the next chapter be dedicated to what the girls are doing and another dedicated to the set up of the pranks, or should I skip over that and start at when the girls are done having girl time and the pranks are (hopefully) finished? Speaking of the pranks, what do you think of James' prank ideas? Are they good? Bad? Which one is your favorite so far? Do you think the girls will catch on fast, and will any backfire on the guys? Keep in mind that some left the room before the other ones were explained, so not all the guys know all of the pranks. XD Should the girls retaliate catch? What do you think of the partners Alex assigned? Let me know in your review, please!**

 **Thank you so much for being so supportive of my writing, guys. c: I doubt I would keep writing on here if it weren't for you reviews that are always so encouraging. You guys always make my day whenever I look and see I have an email letting me know on of you reviewed, or that you favorited or followed a story (or me)! ^-^ Thanks for being so awesome, and please continue to be!**

 **Like always, make sure to let me know if there are any characters, games, pranks (that's a new addition, but I have a feeling I'll need some ideas for later chapters c;), or ships (even if you simply want them to kiss under the mistletoe) that you would like to see in this story! :p I will be trying to incorporate as much of that as possible.**

 **I'll see you guys next time. Keep being amazing! :D I love you guys.**

 **~ Dagger**


	8. Chapter 8 - Underneath the Mistletoe

**Chapter Eight - Underneath the Mistletoe (and Apologies From Dagger)  
**

 ***old door creaks open* What was that? *tumbleweed rolls past* Oh my gosh, is it happening? *slowly brushes dust off of the An Unfortunate Fairytale fanfiction archive page* Could it be? *sneezes because there is too much dust* It is! TheyAlwaysUseADagger has returned! :o**

 **Sorry for the dramatic entrance, but I felt like I needed to make some sort of statement. However, along with that joke about the lack of activity in this archive (not just in general, but also specifically from me), I would like to offer an apology for not offering you guys any content here recently. I'm ashamed to say it, but I really did drop the ball. To be honest, it started feeling a bit monotonous to me. It felt like I was writing to ghosts, and I could almost feel the archive slipping away into inactivity. I wasn't happy to see that and I wanted to fight against it, but as I said, it felt like I was writing with no one there reading (not to say some of you weren't, because I know some of you were, however it is especially evident in some of my other stories). Not only this, but I also found myself beginning to venture out into other archives again. After a bad experience in one, I decided I was not going to venture out again (to be fair, my writing was incredibly poor, but the reaction was way harsher on the story than I expected or was ready to take), but finally I decided to change that. Not sure if any of you saw that or not, but this venturing out is something that I feel was really good for me. It has given me a break from writing these characters so that I can exercise the skill a bit more while keeping it fresh, and it has been exciting to see all of the support I have gotten from those, as they are much bigger fan bases. I will admit, a part of me was wondering if I was ever going to return here when it seemed so lifeless, although I am not proud of it. However, after reading a review that popped up in my emails (I'm not sure how recently it was or which one it was, but for some reason it only came through a little bit ago), it was the push I needed to decide to return. I'd like to say that maybe, if I update, it will pump life back into these archives. That would be awesome. However, I'm not sure it will do anything, and so I will need you guys to help me, even if it's just by supporting my own writing in some way to push me to keep writing here, if nothing else.**

 **But enough of my ranting. I actually had a fair portion of this chapter written out, but I lost it due to neglecting the document on here and I failed to save it anywhere else. That is incredibly frustrating for me, but I have a basic gist of the idea I had in mind and I am determined to update at least one of these stories (feel free to PM me or review here/on another story if you would like to request that I update another one, because I will be going off of whatever people are asking for). I picked to update this one first as it has one of the most recent reviews and the most reviews on the latest chapter, as well as because it was one that was less serious and more fun to write in. Hopefully you guys agree with my choice to go with this one! Even though I have already gone on for far too long anyways, let me respond to your reviews, and then we can get on with the chapter. Feel free to skip at any time if you haven't already. c:**

 **Evx : True, we do need to protect our precious Nix. And while I'm sure we all wish Mina wouldn't be so mean to Teague, it is necessary _for the story_! :D And ah yes, don't worry. We will begin to see the pranks unfold in this chapter.**

 **Life as a Siren : Thank you! I'm sorry this has taken so long. ;-; Hopefully, if you do read this, it will be somewhat worth the wait!**

 **life as a demigod : Oh my, after one of the new stories that I am writing and the length I am aiming for each chapter to be there, it's hard to believe that my stories here even qualified as having "long chapters." Thank you though! And those are all good thoughts about the Nan, Nix, and Ever situation. We will just have to wait to see how that all plays out. I'm glad the Nix and Ever performance had you giggling, and that the ending was astounding! And ah, yes, Teague has managed to get engaged once again. Woops. And ah, yes, I like all of those ideas. They will definitely be used, especially with mistletoe hanging all around the castles. I can feel all the wheels turning in my head, just like they were when I first read your review. Just you wait. We don't even have all of our party guests at the party yet! But they will be waiting till later in the story to arrive, if we get that far. Teehee. :p**

 **CoffeeKake : Thank you! *bows dramatically* And haha, if the chapter title is any clue, I would say that it is fair to say your guess on which prank would be first is right. c; And ah, yes, spying on the girls would've been fun. However, do not fret! We will still be getting to see some of what the girls were doing. And ah, yes, a girl prank will have to be in order. xD I will make it happen if I can! Sorry that I did not update soon in any way, shape, or form. If you do read this update, I do hope that you enjoy it!**

 **Guest : Thank you so much! I'm glad you love reading my stories. Fanfiction is a fantastic world to explore, whether it be through writing it or reading it. And wow, I'm glad that my one-shots were able to hook you, and that I had the honor of being the first story (at least for An Unfortunate Fairytale) that you read! I apologize for how long I've taken to write this, however I am glad that you did not have to wait quite as long. If you are reading this, I hope it is still just as gripping and that the content somewhat justifies the wait!**

 **Woo, now that we're done with that, here is my newest chapter for you guys. Hopefully it can be somewhat of an apology for how lame I've been in not updating for you guys! :c This comment section alone was over 1,000 words to write, but I feel like I should not cut it any shorter, just because you guys deserve a full explanation along with a response to your reviews. It's the least I can do after how long I've taken to get this to you guys. But again, enough from me. Let's see my apology chapter!**

 **Also, I did add a little bit more to sirens - like I did earlier in this story - because I really wanted to expand upon them more. I think there's a lot of different ways they could have been used, and so I am doing more with them then what occurred in the actual books. Hopefully that is not a problem with any of you!**

* * *

 _Nan's Point of View_

* * *

"And we've checked the door? No spying boys?" I ask, watching Ever scan over every inch of the room as Mina and I seat ourselves in the middle.

"Not that that would stop them. They'd probably pick a less obvious way to do spy." Mina comments under her breath, and I deduce that the comment wasn't really meant to be a response. Something is _definitely_ up with my best friend, and it's incredibly concerning. However, it doesn't seem like she intends on telling me anytime soon, so I decide that I won't push her, even though I want to. She can tell me on her own time.

"But I can safely say that there is at least no sign _right_ _now_ of them." Ever says, sitting down and completing our circle on the floor. "And now that that's out of the way, we can finally have a girl discussion."

The pixie and I make eye contact, and then our attention snaps to Mina as I ask, "So what on earth is the deal with you and Teague, Mina?"

She places her head in her hands. "Oh my gosh, I should've expected this would happen."

"Was that whole routine planned?" Ever asks, and while I feel the answer is obvious, I pay attention for Mina's answer anyways.

"No! No, of course not. Why would I plan that with him?" Mina groans, looking up at us as if we are crazy.

"So you guys have natural chemistry?" I ask, trying not to squeal and begin to fangirl, only to get a glare from Ever. Right, this isn't some novel. This is my best friend and her issues with a Dark Prince. I should not be shipping them. "Sorry, sorry." I flash Ever an apologetic look. "Not helping. Right."

"And then he did that stupid thing with the ring! I swear I could kill him." My best friend falls backward dramatically, covering her face once more.

The look Ever has on her face suggests that she is concerned that there is more to that statement, but I think she's wrong. Unless I'm mistaken, Mina is just frustrated that her enemy decided it was a good idea to fake propose. There really isn't much more to it.

"So I take it your relationship has not improved, even with that little adventure you appear to have gone on with him?" The pixie asks, leaning forward ever so slightly.

"Of course not! He was a major jerk then, and he's a major jerk now." Mina sits up again, folding her arms and pouting in quite the exaggerated fashion.

"Okay, okay," I butt in, "so maybe you don't have feelings for the Dark Prince. But what about Louis?"

I raise my eyebrows at her and grin at her exasperated groan as Ever asks, "Oh yes, Mina, what was that about?"

Our interrogated Grimm just shakes her head. "Oh my gosh, you guys are actually the worst. Why is that you guys are so determined to interrogate me right now?"

"Well you did have a charming - and might I add _handsome_ \- blonde siren kiss you. Twice. Three technically if you count when he kissed you on the hand." I point out, causing Mina's face to go red. "Is he at least a good kisser?"

"Nan!" Ever reprimands me, and I raise my eyebrows at her. What the heck is she getting mad at me for?

"I mean, I guess?" Mina says, gesturing helplessly with her hands. "I don't know, I don't really judge kissing!"

I sigh in disappointment. "Yes, I suppose you never have kissed anyone. I mean, you and Brody never kissed right?" I look at her, but she just kind of helplessly shrugs. I can't help but feel that, yet again, there is more to this story, but I drop the subject again and move on. "Do you think he's into blonde, beautiful humans?"

From beside me, Ever comments, "We have one of those here?" I mean honestly, what the heck is her problem right now?

However, before I can look at her and ask about it, Mina says, "He's a _siren_ , Nan."

Ever pops in and actually offers something useful to the topic at hand, although it's only to elaborate on Mina's point. "Don't get involved with him. Trust me, you appear to have gotten lucky with the Fae you know, but sirens are particularly dangerous. While they can be nice to keep at an arm's length, you don't want to let them close, whether it be as a friend or otherwise. _Always_ keep them at a distance. Even Fae know that. I don't know why the heck Teague and the other dudes seem like such good chums with him. Then again, they are idiots. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

I could swear that Mina cringes upon hearing this statement, but she doesn't actually express any disagreement, instead giving an affirming, "Yup."

"Fine, fine. It wasn't actually a serious thought." I respond, rolling my eyes at their determination there. "So there's nothing between you and Louis, Mina?"

She shakes her head back. "Not on my end, and unless I'm mistaken, there isn't anything on his end either."

I grin at her and wiggle my eyebrows. "So he's on the market?"

"Nan!" She exclaims in exasperation. "These are not the sort of comments you should be making."

"I'm only teasing." I respond, and then an idea dawns on me. Time to play more cards for the plan with Nix. Dramatically, I announce, "After all, I am in love with someone else!"

"And who might that be?" Ever asks, looking torn between being amused and suspicious as Mina chuckles at the dramatic announcement.

I gasp, placing over my chest. "You don't know?" I look at Mina in exaggerated shock. "She doesn't know."

Mina giggles, shaking her head. "Indeed she doesn't."

I gesture to Ever. "Should I tell her?"

My best friend shakes her head and laughs, obviously just so overwhelmed with my amazing acting that she cannot take it any longer. "I suppose you should."

"Why Ever," I begin, turning to look at the incredibly confused pixie, "Nix and I are in love with each other. Obviously." Then I adopt a more serious tone again. "No, but I'm going to be honest, I'm sure he wouldn't mind me making comments like that. He knows I'm only kidding."

Ever looks a little murderous, so then Mina jumps in. "You know, Ever, you've been awfully silent on your own encounters with the guys."

I can't help but feel that Mina has just rubbed salt on the pixie's wounds as she turns to glare at Mina. "So?"

Mina leans forward, and I can tell that she is trying very hard to look more intrigued than she actually is. "Well, spill the beans! Give us the details. What happened with you and Alex?"

I nod my head, realizing that the idea to follow this conversation trail might be one of Mina's better ones. "Ya, what happened there, Ever? One minute you guys seemed to be destined for each other, and then the next...Well...Like you weren't." I can't really think of a better analogy while on the spot, so I just decide to go with the lame ending.

"He seemed like an awesome guy at first, and then suddenly, it was like a switch had been flipped or something. He swapped moods, and his personality kinda shifted with it. Surely you guys noticed when it happened again. I don't know what the heck is up with him." She sighs, although I doubt she has completely forgotten our previous conversation thread. However, I decide to hope that he has. "Surely you guys noticed when it happened again?"

"Sure did." Mina comments, apparently not thinking too fondly on that memory. "He was flirty as heck."

"Exactly." Ever says, seeming to have proven her point.

I frown in contemplation. "Does anyone remember what type of Fae he is?"

Ever shrugs her shoulders, and then Mina chimes in. "Well, when Teague introduced us, he did say that he was a half-chimera and that he would probably be shifting like that."

"Well, he should've explained it better." Ever decides, and I can't help but feel like she's been particularly nasty recently. Besides, how can she say that and then be upset with what we're doing with Nix. "I mean, if I'd only known, I wouldn't have messed with him."

I exchange a glance with Mina, and can see that we're thinking the same thing. Somehow, we doubt that that's true. Based on past experience, it's fair to say that Mina's Fae Godmother only learns through trial and error. She doesn't seem to care when others try to explain things for her own benefit.

I open my mouth to speak, only for a loud and booming crash to occur. We all jump and look about wildly, but there is no sign of anyone. Slowly I get to my feet and ask, "Okay, does anyone know what that was?" Both Ever and Mina shake their heads, slowly getting to their feet. "No ideas?"

Ever folds her arms. "If we're going to be honest, we can all guess what it was."

We all look each other, and then in unison reach the same conclusion. "The guys."

"Now the real question is," Mina frowns as she speaks, "whether or not this is a ploy to get us to go out. Are we playing right into their hands if we stay or if we leave?"

"I mean, we've been here for long enough. Covered all of our bases." I say, hoping that I express to her and not to Ever that this conversation is not going well and that I want it to end as soon as possible. "If we leave, we could be outsmarting them. Or, as you said, we're playing into their hands. Either way, we might as well see what they have in store. After all, we have nothing better to do."

Mina nods her head in agreement. "That's fair. Thoughts on that, Ever?"

We both turn to look at our pixie friend, who shrugs. "As Nan said, we might as well." She sounds less than enthused, looking angry all over again.

Mina looks slightly uncomfortable, and after an awkward pause, says, "Okay then, troops. Let's head out and then split up. One of us will go alone from the start. The others will have to go together and then split up as soon as they get. I mean, it could be doing exactly what they want, but it also makes for a less cohesive target. And if they do actually do something to us, well, we'll just have to get back at them later."

"Right." I say, nodding my head. "Let's move out, troops!"

We exit the room, and glance around suspiciously. There's no sign of any of the guys so far, but I don't trust that for a moment. They are incredibly sneaky. However, when a minute goes by and nobody jumps out in our faces, we exchange glances.

"Well, I guess we should split up now." Mina says, before biting her lip.

"Probably. Standing around like this could be opening us up to attack." I answer, glancing down both ends of the hallway we're in as I try to figure out what the guys are up to. They have to be up to something, right? How embarrassing would it be if we snuck around like this for absolutely no reason?

Mina waits for Ever to give her input, and when she doesn't, awkwardly shuffles a few steps down to the right. "Well, um, I'll just go this way then." She gestures with her hands that way as well, looking a little bit of uncomfortable. "So, um, if either of you wants to come with me, then you could...?"

I open my mouth to say I will, but Ever beats me to the punch as she says, "Nah, Nan and I will go this way. Right, Nan?"

She sounds far too cheery when she says it, and I have a feeling this is going to end badly for me. However, there isn't really any good, polite way to say no to that, so I just have to be resigned to my fate. "Right. That sounds great, Ever." I give her a wide smile, hoping that I've just grown too suspicious and have totally misread the situation.

Mina gives a wave before heading off. Ever watches her go until she is out of sight, and then latches onto my wrist and begins to drag me along. It is actually quite painful, and eventually I begin to try and dig my heels into the ground to try and slow her.

"Stop that!" I finally snap, which stops her and allows me to yank my arm out of her grip. "What the heck is up with you?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Her wings slowly begin to manifest again, flapping furiously as she jabs a finger at me.

"What is that even supposed to mean?" I say in exasperation, having lost any grasp on what is going on in this situation.

I try to slap her hand away so that it gets out of my personal space, but she just moves it back, jabbing at me again. "What is the deal with you and Nix?"

I raise my eyebrows at her. "Do you have a problem with the fact that Nix has realized that he's done pining for you without getting anything in return? That he is done getting used by you when you need him? That he is done getting played? That he is done being a backup for when another guy doesn't go well?"

"Take that back!" She's acting as if I slapped her or something. "I never did any of that. Besides, Nix never pined for me."

"Really, because your actions say otherwise." I accuse. "I think you are quite aware of how Nix felt, and you used it to your advantage. Well guess what? You can't anymore." I lean in a bit, using the slight height advantage that I have over her to try and loom over her. "Does it make you appreciate him at all? Does it make you care at all?"

"Shut up!" She screeches, and for a moment I think _she_ might slap _me_. "You don't know anything. You're saying random crap and spouting lies! You're just a filthy human whose lucky to even be able to see this world. You and Brody shouldn't even be here!"

That actually hurts. I blink, suddenly wandering if I might cry as I bat her away. "This alone proves that you don't care about Nix at all. You don't deserve him. You never did! He's innocent. Kind. Compassionate. Sweet. And you used him!" My voice raises.

Her hands ball up into fists. "I never used him!"

"You took him for granted!" I shout, and finally I can't take it. I place my hands on her shoulders and shove her backwards. The action catches her off guard, and she tumbles, slamming into the wall. I have a feeling that based on how her wings are position, she is at least a bit injured. And, for once, I don't care. Glaring at her, I announce, "I actually thought you were a cool person, Ever. I wanted to be friends, but now?" I shake my heads and bitterly state, "Well, one thing is for sure. I was mistaken."

I stalk a few steps away and see that the hallway divides off in front of us. One way is straight ahead, and the other turns to the left. I look at both for a few seconds, but nothing specifically jumps out to me as suspicious. That's a shame. I would have left that one for Ever to go through.

I spin around and gesture behind me. "I'm choosing this way. Don't follow me."

With that done, I stalk off. However, even as I go, my steam begins to go out. Eventually, my anger gives way to hurt as I begin to cry. I try to keep going, but eventually I give up. I sink down beside a column, placing my head in my hands and sobbing. I don't even know why I got so upset with Ever. This was just supposed to be a plan to help Nix win her back. So why am I so emotionally invested in it? Isn't her reaction exactly what Nix was hoping for?

But what I said was true. She _doesn't_ deserve the redhead. He deserves someone so much better, and I wish I could scream the words at the top of my lungs. Does he know that he deserves so much better? Does he realize that he is too good for her? Does he realize that he shouldn't have to _make_ her appreciate him? She should just do that naturally?

My sadness digs even deeper as one specific comment rings loud and clear through my head. _You're just a filthy human whose lucky to even be able to see this world. You and Brody shouldn't even be here!_

I begin to cry harder, almost choking as my breath quickens even further. She's right. I shouldn't be here. I'm not like her or anyone else here, except for Brody. We're outsiders, and despite seeing it all now, we'll still be back outside again. Desperately pressing our hands against the glass and smushing our faces against it as we try to peer inside and be a part of it all again. Even Mina is different. She's not Fae, but she's a Grimm. She naturally is included in this world, even though she doesn't want it. I know why she doesn't want to be in it. I understand it, and I'm sure I would feel the same. And yet, that small part of me hates her for it. While I hate to admit it, a part of me is so jealous that she gets to naturally be in this world. She gets to see it all, and she doesn't appreciate it. The only reason I even remember any of this is because of a charm that was stolen for me.

I know that it's foolish and stupid. She's cursed. How can I envy the fact that she has to fight for her life in this world? How can I envy it when it makes her so uncomfortable? She might act like it doesn't for the most part whenever she isn't in a life threatening situation, but even now I've seen times where just being here seems to put her in a bad mood. So how can I envy my best friend's life when it's an aspect that I know makes her miserable? An aspect that I know that she would give up in a heart beat if given a choice, so long as it would not hurt Charlie?

I shake, trying to curl up even further as I weep. I'm such a horrible person and a horrible friend. I hate Ever, but my hatred for myself that seems to be blossoming even further might be even more intense. How messed up is that?

Suddenly there's a hand placed on my shoulder, and I act without thinking. I throw myself into my unidentified comforter's arms, wrapping my arms around them and weeping into their shoulder. We're still crouched on the ground, and they slowly stand to make the situation better. I'm such a blubbering mess, but I just stand there and sob into their shoulder without trying to fix it as they hold onto me. They don't speak, and after a while - I'm not sure how long - I manage to calm down.

I hiccup, moving to wipe my face but freezing as my comforter asks, "Do you want to talk about what's got you so upset?"

I don't know who I assumed was here. Nix? Brody? Maybe even by some miracle Mina? But that is not the voice of anyone I recognize. Slowly, I look to see the emerald eyes peering down at me in concern.

I let out a startled and embarrassed squeak. "Louis?"

"The one and only." He says with a gentle smile, looking like he's trying to bring some lightheartedness to the conversation. If I weren't so embarrassed, I would smile back. However, I am embarrassed, so I don't.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." I begin to try and apologize, but nothing feels good enough. "And you barely even know me yet I just threw myself into you and blubbered into your shoulder. Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Ah, how can I make it up to you? I'm so sorry. This is so embarrassing. I-"

"It's okay." The blond interrupts my torrent of apologies and awkwardly pats my shoulder. "You looked like you needed that."

I look down, still embarrassed. "Thank you. I did."

"No problem. If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, call me at any time. I'm generally open. Surprisingly enough, damsels in distress don't often come to me for comfort." He winks, and I swear my heart melts a bit. Then he drops to being more serious again. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Just some stupid crap." I sniff, scowling a little as I remember how Ever was acting and trying to avoid contemplating my jealousy again. After a moment, I decide to elaborate slightly. "Ever and I were fighting. She wasn't very nice. I mean, to be fair, I wasn't either, but..."

"If it makes you feel better, I've always thought she was a bit of a jerk." I look at him with wide eyes, and he shrugs with a bit of a smile. "I mean, she and Teague are friends, and Teague and _I_ are friends. We've met a few times, and she never came across as particularly nice. Very rash. I know it probably won't help, but don't take any of it to heart, okay? I don't care what she said to make you cry, I'm sure it isn't true."

I laugh, and manage to smile a little. "Thanks. That makes me feel a bit better, although you don't really know anything about me, so..."

He shrugs. "I'm a good judge of character. I've seen how you treat people. You care for your friends fiercely, and human or not, you seem pretty cool."

"Thanks." Just hearing him say those things makes me feel ten times better.

He pauses, glancing upwards. "I know this isn't the best time, however..." He trails off and gestures upwards, seeming to be at a loss for how to explain himself. I look up as well, and what I see catches me completely off guard. A chain of mistletoe dangles over us, and I take a step back while my face heats up upon realizing what that means. "Um, I mean, I don't know exactly how you humans act upon the tradition...And I mean we can pretend neither of us encountered each other under it if that would make you feel better."

He scratches the back of his head awkwardly, and I laugh. "You guys had all of that time to plan something while we were finding a room, boy-proofing it, and then talking in it, and you decided on mistletoe?"

"Well it wasn't the only thing!" He defends it, although he laughs as well. It is rather silly, although I suppose could be used to their advantage. It does make me wonder what Mina has stumbled upon, although I don't particularly care where Ever has ended up. Hopefully Mina just hasn't gotten somewhere too awkward. "You'll just have to wait for the rest."

"I think I'll pass." I say, smiling.

"On the pranks or the kiss?" He smirks at me, although I can tell it's also a honest question. The fact that he intends to respect that I'm in a delicate mood and that I might not be able to handle doing this right now is awesome.

However, I can. "The pranks. The kiss on the other hand...Well, I don't really want to risk any bad luck for not doing it. That's what humans say happens if you refuse, at least for girls."

He shakes his head. "Well we can't let that happen to such a nice girl like you. So..." This is quite awkward, now that I think about it, "um, shall we?"

I laugh. "I suppose so."

He leans in, and suddenly we're kissing. It's absolutely exhilarating. I don't know if it has to do with him being Fae or maybe with him being a siren, but whatever the case, Mina grossly downplayed how kissing him was. Every ounce of sadness feels like it is gone from my body and a part of me doesn't ever want to stop. I hold onto him, feeling as if I could fly. Finally, he pulls away. It feels like that was for forever, but I know in reality it was only for a couple moments. I, however, would have been completely fine to stay in that moment for the rest of my life.

I'm panting, looking at him with wide eyes as he pants, staring at me with sad eyes. "What's up?"

"I underestimated how sad you were." He comments, bending over slightly and setting his hands on his knees. He looks quite winded, and almost as if he might throw up. "It was quite the overload."

"What does that mean?" I'm still quite confused.

"Sirens, once our powers begin to manifest, don't just eat normal food. We also feed on emotions. There are different ways that we do that, but kissing is the one that is the strongest and most filling. Humans are the most, um, filling compared to other Fae, with Royals or chimeras - especially during their mood swings - coming in as a close second. You don't experience _anything_ when kissing another siren, so that's just normal. Siphoning off of another siren is impossible, and would be bad, as it would be taking energy from them. That's probably really confusing." He scratches the back of his head. "I forgot about how strongly it would hit me, especially since I had a fair amount of energy." That would explain why he looked like he might throw up. "The fact that your emotions were so intense made it even more overwhelming."

I'm not really sure what to say. "Um, I'm sorry?"

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Don't be. I wasn't trying to feed from you, after all. If I were, things could've gone differently." That sounds ominous. "However, since I can't block siphoning emotions, it was a bit of a shock. Are you okay?"

"Never better!" I give him a huge smile. "To be honest, I feel as light as a feather."

He gives me a smile that actually looks rather weary. "I'm glad."

* * *

 _Ever's Point of View_

* * *

I slowly help myself fully stand up again, letting out a small groan of pain as I watch Nan stomp off. As I brush myself off, I manage to ignore the fact that my temper completely lashed out again, and instead focus on how horrible Nan was. Honestly, who the heck does she think is, coming in and meddling? She has no idea how these things work. She made all of those accusations with absolutely no proof for any of them. A small part of me knows that her points are a bit more justified than I would like to believe, but I quickly stamp that out. That's absolutely ridiculous. I don't know what is up with Nix, but I'll sort it out. It's probably something small, like me forgetting to give him a good luck high five before the last round of the lip sync competition or something else equally as small.

Yet that small part pops up again, reminding me of how he and Nan have been acting. Again, I shove it away. Why do I care about Nan and Nix's possible relationship? It doesn't affect me. Good for Nix, right?

Oh, who am I kidding? Maybe Nan is right. Maybe I do fail to appreciate the nixie. Even as the thought enters my mind, I am reminded of so many instances where I did just what she said: I took advantage of him. Did he really pine for me before? Did I really mess that up? I rub my temples, trying to flap my aching wings as I make my way for the hallway that Nan did not go down. I really am the worst when it comes to Nix. The behavior I failed to notice from him while I was falling for Alex suddenly makes sense. If my redhead cared for me, then that was a horrible mistake. Oh gosh, how did that make him feel?

It's like things are clicking into place in my head. Is that why it's never worked with anyone else, especially since I've met Nix? Is it because, inside, I know that they aren't who I am looking for. While I never discuss it with any of our friends, I have met other Fae guys. It never lasts. Some of the time it's because they are horrible guys, but other times there isn't anything specific. It just never felt right. However, with Nix, it always has felt right.

I let out a few Fae swear words. How could I have ever missed that?

As I continue to stumble along and beat myself up, I catch sight of someone ahead of me. They're turned away from me, but I see the red hair. For a moment, I want to rush towards him, but I stop myself. Alex and Nix are both redheads. I don't want to make the mistake of rushing to Alex. However, a simple moment of examination tells me that it's not Alex. For one thing, the clothes are different. However, the hair itself isn't dark enough to be Alex's, and that is enough for me.

I rush towards him, ignoring the pain in my wings. I'm aware that they are completely bent and out of shape, but I don't even care. I have to get to Nix and apologize. I'm the worst person ever, and I've treated him like crap. I need to apologize. I have to make it up to him!

"Nix!" I shout, causing him to spin around. His green eyes meet mine, confirming what I already knew: this is definitely Nix. I suppose his responding to his name would've done that as well, but I don't really care. Before he can say anything, I throw my arms around him. I'm not normally a hugger, but I know he is, and I need to make it up to him. One way I can do so is give a little. "Nix, I...I'm..." I swear again under my breath, almost afraid to do this. What if he's still mad? What if he won't accept my apology? "I'm sorry. For everything. I...I've been stupid. I made a lot of mistakes. I didn't see the awesome guy who's been helping me this whole time."

Slowly, Nix removes himself from my hug, and I prepare myself to get rejected. It would be nothing new. I've rejected and I've been rejected. However, even as I brace myself, I get hit by surprise. "You are?"

I stare at him in shock. "Well duh, you idiot. You're my best friend, and I know I'm not the best at showing that. I've used and taken advantage of you because I'm an idiot and a horrible person. I'm sorry. I just-"

"Ever, I forgive you. It's okay." He stops me, looking down for a moment. Then he looks up again, seeming almost afraid. "Do you really mean all of that?"

"Mean all of tha- Of course I mean all of that, you dumb nixie!" I say in exasperation, and a small smile takes his face. I suppose I'm not very good at all this sentimental stuff, but for once I don't think somebody cares. How did I never notice what was staring me in the face? How did I never realize how Nix felt? "I've been such an idiot. Gah, I'm sorry." I begin to let out a string of swear words, and Nix lightly swats me on the head.

"Hey, stop that." I stop, focusing on him as he looks me dead in the eye. "It's okay."

I take a deep breath. "Look, Nix, I know there's Nan to think about and I understand that she's here and that I'm too late, but-" He shakes his head and laughs, causing me to stop short. "What the heck is so funny, you idiot? I'm trying to apologize and make things up, and yet you're laughing at me! What the heck? This is serious!"

He shakes his head, sobering slightly. "Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you. Look, we don't have to think about Nan at all, okay?"

"And why not?" I fold my arms, incredibly lost.

He gives me a sheepish smile. "Nan only got dragged into this because I was hoping she would make you jealous, and because I was jealous as I was watching you and Alex. I was hoping something like this might happen if she did some acting."

I stare at him, dumbfounded. "It was all an act?"

He nods in affirmation and echoes my question as a statement. "It was all an act."

"Well, she was very convincing." I mutter as I stare at the ground, but he hears me and laughs again.

"So, where does this put us on the table, Ever?" He asks, placing a hand under my chin and gently lifting it back up so that our eyes are meeting again. "What are we now?"

I stare at him, wanting to make the leap but afraid to. "I...I don't know. I know what I _want_ to be."

He prompts me to continue. "And that is?"

His other hand grabs mine, holding it tight and giving it an affirming squeeze. "I'd like to be together with you."

He gives me one of his wide, sweet smiles. "I'd like to be that too!" He sounds a bit like a little kid in the way he says it, but it's endearing. I suppose that's one reason I've grown so attached to my best bud. If it weren't for how innocent, gullible, and childish he was when it came to having to act like a human, none of this might have happened.

But it did, and I'm quite thankful for that.

Before I can respond, he pulls me in close, and I stare at him for a moment before he kisses me. It's only for a moment, and then he pulls away. I gasp, a delayed reaction from my surprise, and he gives me another sheepish grin. "Sorry, but..." He gestures upwards, and I laugh upon spotting the mistletoe hanging above us. "If there's one human thing I've learned, it's that humans kiss under the mistletoe." I stare at him, frowning, and he looks concerned. "I...I'm sorry, should I have asked first? Did I do something wrong?"

"Yes, you did do something wrong." He looks frightened, but slowly I let myself smile. "You didn't give me a good enough kiss. Try again."

* * *

 _Mina's Point of View_

* * *

As I walk along in the direction of my choice, deciding to just keep going straight when offered different turns onto other hallways, I consider the fact that I left Nan and Ever alone with no one to moderate them during a very tense time for them. Ever seemed far too eager to go with Nan, and I probably could've interrupted if I really tried. However, I was slightly distracted with the idea that the boys were plotting against us. However, I also was considering all that discussion we had about sirens. That attitude Ever has towards them was rather unexpected, and it got me thinking again about what Louis claimed.

His claims are, of course, absolutely ridiculous. Me? A siren? There's just no way that that could be possible. Even being a half siren is a thought that is absolutely laughable. I'm nothing like a siren, and I am certainly nothing like Louis. He's charming, musical, funny, and good-looking. He's attractive, and seems like he has the ability to turn it on and off whenever he wants. I, on the other hand, can't even win over _one_ guy when I want to. I'm not funny and I have about as much charm as a slug. Any attempt of mine to sound musical sounds like a dying cow, and if you looked up the opposite of good-looking, a picture of me would be there. How could I be the same thing as him, let alone be Fae?

It's absolutely ridiculous.

Yet it's still a nagging thought. To make matters worse, two sharp pains on either side of my neck have begun to develop. I rub at them, having to resist the urge to scratch, and frown. This is a mess. Even another quest might have been better than coming to this. Maybe I _should_ have told Teague no and just taken on whatever thing he threw at me in his angry response.

With both hands on my neck, I am caught completely unprepared as I suddenly trip. I scramble to try and stop myself from falling, but I have a feeling that it's going to be pointless. Yet, before I hit the ground, two arms catch me and jerk me back up. Once again I'm caught completely unprepared as arms catch me, saving me from hitting the floor at what feels like the last second. I look up to find amber eyes staring down into mine, twinkling with mischief as their owner smirks down at me.

"Why, my dear Mina, aren't you quite the _catch_?" He winks at me, and I roll my eyes. Is this still the same flirty mood from before, or something completely different? It is awkward, so I suppose it would make sense for it to be the same mood. "It appears as if you're _falling_ for me already."

I shake my head at him. "You can let me up now, Alex."

His smirk widens. "Of course! Anything for the beautiful lady."

"You can also stop doing that." I comment as he helps me up and carefully sets me on his feet.

"Stop what?" He asks innocently, and there is a small part of me that wants to punch him, although I will admit that a larger part of me finds this ridiculousness slightly amusing.

"Stop _flirting_ with me." I elaborate.

He pouts in quite the exaggerated fashion. "Then I might not get my kiss from you."

That, of course, is another unexpected punch to the gut. Once again I try to raise one eyebrow and fail as I stare at him in shock. "Excuse me, what?"

"My kiss." He points upwards, and I follow his hand up to see what is dangling above us. Mistletoe. How the heck did mistletoe get here? "It's a new trend for Fae parties. Whenever a boy and a girl walk under it, they have to kiss. Don't you humans do that?"

Fae trend? If that's a real Fae trend, then I really am a siren. This is absolutely ridiculous. "Oh, is that so?"

Alex nods, grabbing my hand and pulling it up to his lips, probably to kiss it. I jerk it away, scowling at him, but he just winks. "It is."

"You guys had all that time, and you decide to hang mistletoe." I mutter, shaking my head. "This is ridiculous." I frown, considering everyone I could have ended up running into. "However, I suppose you're better than some of my other choices."

"Exactly!" Alex proclaims, and a small laugh escapes from my lips, which just seems to encourage him. "So, shall we?"

"I suppose we have to." I say begrudgingly.

Even though I know it's coming, it happens sooner than expected. Not only is it unexpected, but it is completely different than I expected. I expected our lips to simply touch, but instead it feels as if our lips collide. This burning sensation runs through me, coursing through every vein and causing me to feel as if a fire has just lit itself inside of me. I rip myself away from the half-chimera, stumbling away and clutching my stomach. I only make it a few steps before I fall to my knees, throwing up all over the ground as I pant. It only lasted for a few seconds, yet it feels as if it went on for hours. As I wretch again, it burns, but it's not too noticeable seeing as all of me still burns. I clutch my head with one hand as an agonizing pain bursts in it, threatening to split my skull and brain in half. What the heck is going on? Does this have something to do with him being a chimera? An overwhelming urge to flirt rushes over me as I cough and try to breath, hoping and praying that I will not throw up again seeing as it really hurts.

"Mina?" Alex asks, and a part of registers that he sounds normal and concerned. His voice has always seemed to change the tiniest bit with each of his moods, and now he sounds like how he did when we first met him. "Oh my gosh, Mina, are you okay?"

Before I can stop myself, I vomit again, and my screaming brain struggles to inform me that that probably is not good or healthy. "Gah." It's all I manage to get out as I pant, trying to breath in more and keep myself from throwing up a fourth time.

The world has begun to spin. That's not a good thing is it? I clutch my head and stomach harder, shutting my eyes in the pain as I take deep breathes. To make matters worse, my neck pain suddenly deepens, shooting even sharper pain out throughout my whole body.

"Mina, hold on. Stick with me. You're going to be okay." I feel Alex's hand on my shoulder as he talks to me. It sounds like he's trying to sound soothing as he does so, but it really isn't helping. "Now probably isn't a good time, because I have no idea what happened, but just so you know, you are a really good kisser. I can't help but feel like I'm walking on sunshine, and I have absolutely no idea why. Kissing you must've somehow triggered the end of that last mood cycle." I don't particularly care about any of this as I pant, still feeling my head spin even with my eyes closed. Alex seems to sense something minutes before me, because he suddenly says, "Oh my gosh, Mina! No, stay with me! No no no! Help! Gah, somebody, help! Oh gosh!"

His voice is so much louder all of a sudden. It's as if it is booming in my ears, and it really hurts when added to my already splitting head. Before I can tell him to quiet down, I feel myself fall forwards. I try to stop myself, because I know that the disgusting mess that I just threw up is all in front of me, but I have lost the ability to move at all. Right before I know I'm about to hit the ground, I lose any grasp on reality that I still had as I slip out of consciousness.

* * *

 **Man, this took me hours to write. It's a lot longer than most of the chapters I have uploaded to any of my stories in this archive, but I felt like it was a chapter that you guys deserved, and it's length I hope will be a slightly apology for how long I took to get to this point. Anyways, what did you guys think of this chapter? Was it good? Bad? What did you guys think of the girl talk they had? What about Nan's moment of wanting to ship Teague and Mina, the interrogation of Mina, or the reactions Ever was giving to the different conversations? And how about Ever's major confrontation with Nan? Whose side are you on there? Were you expecting Nan to react in such a fashion? Hopefully it wasn't too out of character. Do you think that Nan has fallen for Nix? Who is better for him? What about Louis comforting Nan? Was that a good encounter? What do you think of the new info we've learned about sirens thanks to him? And what about Ever and her reaction to the fight? Did you like her encounter with Nix? What do you think of them seeming ready to be with each other? Should they be? One thing is for sure: their drama is certainly far from over. And how about that Mina stuff? What is that pain going on in her neck? What do you think of Alex's horrible attempts to flirt? Should I have made them more ridiculous or more like actual flirting, or were they pretty good? Were you expecting the kiss to take the turn it did? What did you think of all of that, and what on earth do you think happened? Do you think she's okay? Let me know your thoughts in a review!  
**

 **The mistletoe drama is definitely not over. After all, some of the guys haven't even kissed anyone yet. Are there any kisses you want to see? This gives me several opportunities to experiment with a ship, even if it's not seriously, and is just super silly and adds to the drama. Plus it's always fun to see everyone flounder about in the awkwardness depending on who it is, right? Make sure to let me know any ships you want to see (whether it be just with mistletoe or otherwise), games you'd be interested in seeing, or characters you hope will make an appearance in a review as well!**

 **Once again, I'm very sorry for how long I have been gone. That was not fair to you guys, but I would like to make it up to you. I will especially try to update other stories and this one if you guys either PM me or ask about it in a review, or if you simply just continue to review this story and support it. If I know people are still reading, then I will do my best to stick around. I want to bring this place back to life, but I can't do that myself. c: Will you guys help me?**

 **Until next time. I love all of you guys!**

 **~ Dagger**


	9. Chapter 9 - Missed Opportunities

**Chapter Nine - Missed Opportunities**

 **Woo, Dagger is finally back with another update for you guys! I know I haven't updated in ages. I've been branching out fandom wise to some that I was always too afraid to write in before, and I felt like there wasn't anyone really reading this anymore. iGorila13 sent me a PM requesting updates for these stories though, so I decided I would give them a few! I will try and get on at least finishing my current stories in this fandom, but no guarantees that I'll do any more full length ones after I wrap these up.  
**

 **Evx : Awww I'm glad you are so happy to see me back! And I'm super happy that you liked this chapter! We'll see this chapter if you guessed correctly on what is wrong with Mina, and if Teague will come to her. And haha, don't we all ship them? cx And ah yes, well we'll just have to see about them and whether or not anything is actually going to develop. Why can't Louis just be a nice guy who cares but also needs to do his duty as a guy and fulfill the prank? xD And yayyy Alex is gaining likeability points! We'll see how he tries to handle poor Mina. And you're welcome! Hopefully you'll like this update as well. c:**

 **5 is my lucky number : Hahaha, but if I give you guys a Meague kiss _now_ , it won't be as climactic if I do one _later_. :p We'll see whether or not you get one just yet.**

 **LyricBeetle : Yes, Meague is a beautiful thing. And don't worry, we will definitely be finding out what the heck happened to Mina this chapter! No need to apologize. c; I'm glad you want to know! And I totally agree, I love Chanda's writing but I really wish there was more info on sirens. I'm glad you like that I'm expanding upon them!**

 **life as a demigod : I'm glad you liked it so much! I'm also glad you enjoyed the gossip of the girls. I will definitely keep that in mind for the future. c; Haha, true there! And we'll just have to see about Nan and her feelings. All I will say is that the drama is certainly not over there! And ooh yes, we will definitely be learning about the pains in the neck Mina is having, and I'm not referring to any of the boys. c; And ah yes, a Meague kiss. We'll just have to see about that. :p And ooh, I have never heard of that game before! However, that does sound like a good idea. Gives me all sorts of ideas. :3 And another girl? Ah, well if you read on, you might find out whether or not we'll be seeing any of that.**

 **Guest : I'm glad! And no worries, none of us can judge. We all take long breaks. And I'm glad you love this story! Hopefully this wait wasn't quite as unbearable. cx**

 **Now, let's find out what's up with some of our favorite characters, shall we?**

* * *

 _Nan's Point of View_

* * *

"Anyways," The blond says, finally seeming to regain his breath, "I would be careful going in either direction up ahead. Let's just say they aren't necessarily very desirable." He gestures at me, as if hoping I will understand his message, but I just raise my eyebrows. Is he warning me that there are boys up ahead, or is he warning me about a specific boy up ahead? I honestly have no clue, and he throws his hands down helplessly. "Look, let's just say that no one would blame you if you turned back and hightailed it out of here."

I shake my head, grinning despite myself. Man, whatever his siren kiss did really _worked_. "I can handle a few boys, Louis."

The siren still looks skeptical. "If you say so." His hand slips into his pocket and he whips out a phone, face paling ever so slightly when he looks at it. Now seeming thoroughly distracted, he gives a hurried, "I gotta go. Good luck!" Then he rushes off, seeming quite panicked compared to the generally calm Louis I've seen so far.

I don't know if it's the kiss or something else, but I'm not too concerned about his rush to get going. I haven't got a care in the world! Why add one that doesn't even seem to have to do with me? It would be completely unnecessary. Nothing - not even Ever, although she is slightly frustrating - can take this gifted happiness away from me.

With a new spring in my step, I come to a hallway with a significant split, and glance both ways. At least one of these ways has a boy, if not both of them. So which one do I choose? I'm a leftie, so I suppose I'll just follow my hand. Switching my gaze to look that way, I determinedly walk in that direction.

* * *

 _Mina's Point of View_

* * *

A bright light breaks through the darkness that clouds my vision. I blink to try and clear it until suddenly there are two faces staring down at me in obvious concern as I pant. Did I pass out? The last thing I remember is that super weird kiss with Alex, pain, and throwing up. Did I pass out in a puddle of my own vomit? That's absolutely disgusting.

I have to stop passing out all the time, no matter how overwhelming the pain gets. Thank goodness the pain appears to be mainly gone. There's a slight itch in my neck and an ache in my head, but besides that I think I'm okay. Is my face disgusting? I'm sure it is if I fell into a puddle of the contents that should be in my stomach, but surely I would feel it all over my face if that were the case. Right?

I manage to finally catch a glimpse of the two who are looming over me. I can see relief filling the one on the left's amber eyes as he brushes his gold bangs out of the way. I expected that I'd probably see him here, unless he'd been a jerk and left me. Alex just looks happy to see me alive and kicking. The other one is not so expected. A concerned Louis leans over me, frowning intently as he looks me over.

And like the brilliant person I am, the first words that come spilling from my mouth are, "When did you get here?"

"She's a lot calmer than I expected." Alex comments to Louis, now seeming completely unconcerned with my health.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, the phrasing stressing me out. "What happened?"

"Just take deep breathes, Mina." Louis informs me, not losing his concern as easily as Alex.

I begin to squirm, trying to sit up, but Alex pushes me back down. "Look, just take it slow. This might be a bit shocking."

I feel sick to my stomach as I ask once again, "What happened? What aren't you guys telling me? Why are you acting like this?"

"Uh, something happened." Louis mumbles, shifting awkwardly under my gaze.

"Tell me what that _something_ happens to be." I snap, narrowing my eyes, but inside I'm still panicking and don't sound nearly as fierce. What's causing them to act like this?

For a moment, I don't think he'll comply. What do I do if he doesn't? Then, he sighs, and says, "It'll be better if I give you a mirror. You're not gonna like it and I don't know any other way to tell you."

Trying to figure out what that would even mean, I hesitantly accept the mirror from his hand. For a moment, nothing seems different, but then my eyes land on the growths protruding from my neck. Out of instinct, I let out a scream of pure terror, but Louis quickly cuts it off by clamping a hand over my mouth.

"Sh, it's okay." Alex attempts to be a comfort, but he switches gears when he sees it's not helping. However, his next comment isn't much better. "It's not that bad, is it?"

"Are you finally ready to admit I was right?" Louis asks hesitantly, obviously nervous to broach the subject again. When I don't respond, he carefully moves his hand from my mouth. "I'm sorry for covering your mouth there. It was for everyone's safety. Some Sirens have an insanely powerful scream known as the Call. I couldn't risk that being the case for you. Thankfully, it appears you don't carry that particular skill."

"I'm...I'm not sure what to think, Louis." I finally manage to get out, unable to take my eyes off of what I'm assuming are gills that have sprouted from my neck. "I'm not positive that that's the only explanation for this. I'm a Grimm. How on earth would I have Fae blood?"

"Mina-" Louis begins to say in exasperation, obviously frustrated by my lack of belief in his thoughts.

I cut him off to finish my thought. "However, I'm willing to consider it as a possibility. It does seem to be getting more and more likely." My heart wrenches in my chest. Am I really a siren? "I want to talk to you about this on the down low, Louis. I don't everyone learning about this sudden development, _especially_ Teague. Okay? I'm even willing to test some stuff out so we can know for sure whether you're right or not, so long as we keep quiet on this and find some way to hide this." To emphasize my point, I gesture at my neck. "You guys won't tell anyone, will you?"

Ever's comments about sirens from earlier rings out clearly in my head. She called them dangerous. Will she think _I_ am dangerous if she finds out I might be a siren? Will she try and keep me at arms length? How will I be able to handle this sudden danger? My magic as a Grimm is already unpredictable as it is...Unless that isn't Grimm magic?

Could I have been using my Fae magic this entire time without knowing it?

"No a word." Alex says firmly, dragging my attention back to the present with a curt nod of his head. "You have my word on that, Mina."

"I swear I won't tell anyone." Louis' serious tone and the intensity in my eyes are much more assuring than Alex's, although I can't guess why.

So I choose to ignore it and instead extend my hand to the blond siren. "Help me up?"

He nods, standing up and pulling me up as well. I see his eyes flick upwards, and only have a moment to see the corners of his lips turn upwards before they're against mine. Caught off guard, I can't say I do much to dissuade him from attempting something like that. I don't get the overwhelming rush that Alex's kiss gave me, which is a relief. I don't know what I'd do if I suffered through that again.

When he lets me go, I stumble back a bit, positive my face has gone red. "What was that, Louis?"

"Mistletoe over head." He says with a snicker, and I pout at him as I stand up again. "Come on, Amina, you know you enjoyed it."

He winks, but I roll my eyes and ask, "Your kiss is different than Alex's."

Alex decides the appropriate response - which is quite humorous - is to say, "I would hope so! I worked hard to get where I am today."

I huff in response, folding my arms. "No, that's not what I meant. I-I don't know how to explain it. But-"

"It was like an emotional overload, right?" Louis guesses, and my eyes widen as I nod. "That's normal for sirens. It doesn't happen when you kiss each other, but if you kiss almost any other Fae or a human, you'll experience it. Chimeras and humans are the strongest, and since Alex is a half chimera who was in one of his mood swings, I'm not surprised it was so overloading. Sirens generally call it Feeding. It's one way to get energy, and if you do it right, it's way better than eating bevause it's way more filling." When I continue to stare at him in confusion, he sighs and suggests, "Why don't we head on back to everyone else? I think I'm overloading you with too much right now."

"Sounds good." I say slowly, not sure what to think. "But how do we hide...Well, this?" I gesture helplessly to my neck.

Louis frowns, glancing at Alex for help, and the chimera jumps in to save the day, waving a hand over my neck. I give him a skeptical look, confused as to how that has helped at all, till I look down and see what he has accomplished. The gills are gone. Louis seems annoyed with himself for not thinking of doing that himself.

"You got rid of them?" I ask, but I cringe when I see Louis' pain at how excited I sound.

"No," Alex says, sounding sad that he couldn't, perhaps because I visibly deflate a bit, "But I've glamoured them so that no one will see them."

I let loose the breath I didn't know I had begun to hold in, because even though I hate that they're here, I'm relieved that at least I won't be exposed or have to hide my neck. "Thank you, Alex."

Louis chimes in, more someber than I've ever seen him. "We'll have to be careful. Now that your gills have shown through, other things will manifest as well. We'll probably have to update the glamour as they continue, and you will definitely need help. Since you're most likely half-siren, we _will_ just have to see how much you develop." Then he takes on a more humorful tone, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "You'll have to be careful, Mina. When we practice, I'll be dropping my own glamour, and you might just find me irresistible."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever you say, Louis. Now, shall we head back to the others?"

Louis offers me his arm to escort me with a smirk, but Alex smirks wider and takes it instead. I giggle at the sight, holding my hands up to form a heart around them, and Louis pouts at me as Alex rugs him forward. I follow quickly behind, laughing at Louis' exaggerated looks of desperation for help that he gives me when he looks back.

However, we don't make it very far before we hear a shriek of terror. All three of us freeze, looking around for the source as Alex ends his joke by releasing Louis.

"Who do you think you are?" Snaps someone, and I freeze. I've heard that before, haven't I?

"I could ask you the same thing!" Snarls the other, and after all three of us look at each other, we rush towards the source.

* * *

 **And that's the end of this chapter! I know this is shorter than usual, but I'm easing back in. I need to do some updating of all my other stories, but I will try to update more often, like I used to. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'd like to release another An Unfortunate Fairy Tale one-shot when I get the chance as well, but we'll see. I have a lot I want to do on here now that I have time again. cx**

 **But anyways, please leave a review if you enjoyed this chapter! Was it good? Bad? What do you think Nan is going to stumble into? What do you think has happened with Ever? We'll be hearing about what happened to her later. How do you feel about Mina's reaction? Were you expecting the siren turn? How do you feel about her hanging around Louis and Alex more? Who do you think the new voices are? They _are_ new people entering the party. What do you think happened to Nan? Finally, like I usually ask, are there any ships you want to see? Any situations you want me to put our lovely people in? **

**Thanks for the support! Sorry I was not here for a while. I'm back though! Hopefully to stick around, at least for now.**

 **~ Dagger**


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